The MeidasTouch Podcast
Meidas Health, Episode 5: One of the Nation's Biggest Future Healthcare Leaders Speaks!
05 May 2025
In this episode of Meidas Health, Dr. Vin Gupta is joined by Dr. Meena Seshamani, Maryland’s Secretary of Health, for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of American health care. A surgeon and Oxford-trained economist, Dr. Seshamani brings unmatched insight into the transformational impact of Medicare drug price negotiations, the challenges state leaders face as federal support wanes, and how Maryland is pioneering solutions in behavioral health and access to care. Together, they dive into the real-world impact of policy, the growing threat of misinformation, and what it takes to lead in an era of uncertainty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Hi, everybody. Welcome to Episode 5 of Midas Health. I'm delighted to have one of the nation's biggest healthcare leaders join us for Episode 5. The purpose of this is to help inform. We're not trying to be red meat political. We're just trying to inform on issues that matter.
We know that we're reaching millions through this platform, and we want to respect your time, which is why we brought you some of the nation's best, because we know the best are not currently at the highest levels of government. Episode two, we had former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf.
Just last week, we had one of the senior leaders at the WHO, and I'm excited to welcome a friend and what I think is going to be, who I think is going to be one of our nation's future Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Maryland's current State Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Meena Seshamani. Meena, thank you for being here. I was just so delighted to see you in this new role.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having me.
Well, so Meena, you know, there's a lot going on. And first and foremost, I'd like you to introduce yourself to this audience that reaches millions. And I just want to give you the floor to tell us a little bit about your career journey and how you ended up as Maryland's Secretary of Health.
Sure. So I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to have this career path that has really enabled me to both take care of people and have impact on the ground and to work at higher levels in policy to really shape the system in which people can care for patients. By training, I am an otolaryngologist or a head and neck surgeon, and I have practiced full time on the ground.
I also have my PhD in healthcare economics. And so I have been able to leverage both that on the ground experience as well as my economics and policy expertise both in leading care transformation for a major health system, in leading the Office of Health Reform in the Obama administration as we were implementing the Affordable Care Act, and most recently, leading the Medicare program,
where we implemented the Inflation Reduction Act and stood up for the first time the Medicare drug price negotiation in the history of the Medicare program, among many other things that we did. Now I have the opportunity to bring that back to my home state. I moved to Maryland 20 years ago for residency. I suppose I just dated myself.
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