POLITICO's Pulse Check

Where's health care headed? No one knows better than Andy Slavitt, who runs Medicare and Medicaid — the nearly $1 trillion gorilla that shapes the industry — and who runs point on implementing Obamacare. Andy sat down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to explain what it's like to lead one of the government's biggest agencies (starts at the 2:00 mark), how he got into health care and his efforts to demystify CMS (5:45), what it was like to be a contractor on the failed Obamacare exchange launch (18:00), how a Republican president could pick his successor (26:45), his thoughts on payment reform pilots (31:00), UnitedHealthcare pulling out of the ACA exchanges (39:00), why rising drug prices could be the top issue for Andy's successor (43:00), and how CMS lost the hearts and minds of doctors — and how the new physician payment rule, called MACRA, is going to get them back. (46:45) Plus: Don't miss the lightning round quiz at 54:45. Have questions, suggestions or feedback? Email [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing POLITICO's new health policy and politics podcast — Pulse Check, hosted by Dan Diamond! Subscribe to this feed for the latest updates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices