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Vic and Marcus break down how MMA, politics, and media are increasingly intertwined, starting with Conor McGregor’s presidential bid and the UFC's political influence. They discuss the Fed’s economic outlook, inflation, tariffs, and consumer sentiment. In healthcare, they cover CMS reforms, Medicare Advantage scrutiny, hospital mergers, FTC shakeups, and major investments in senior care, pathology, and hospital-at-home models. The episode wraps with concerns over proposed HIV funding cuts and...
Vic and Marcus break down how MMA, politics, and media are increasingly intertwined, starting with Conor McGregor’s presidential bid and the UFC's political influence. They discuss the Fed’s economic outlook, inflation, tariffs, and consumer sentiment. In healthcare, they cover CMS reforms, Medicare Advantage scrutiny, hospital mergers, FTC shakeups, and major investments in senior care, pathology, and hospital-at-home models. The episode wraps with concerns over proposed HIV funding cuts and the long-overdue reckoning with U.S. deficit spending.
11:09 - Fed Dims Economic Outlook, Citing Uncertainty Over Tariffs WSJ
14:27 - Consumer Sentiment Tanks as Americans Expect More Pain Ahead WSJ
15:13 - Retail Sales Edge Up in February but Miss Expectations WSJ
17:08 - Trump Team Explored Simplified Plan for Reciprocal Tariffs WSJ
18:52 - Nasdaq Plans Second U.S. Headquarters in Texas WSJ
25:32 - Inspiren banks $35M to scale AI-powered senior living technology Fierce Healthcare
26:29 - Proscia pulls in $50M for digital pathology Axios
27:51 - Medalogix, Forcura Merge to Form a $1 Billion Healthcare Software Business WSJ
28:52 - The Israeli Startup That Just Inked the Largest Cybersecurity Deal Ever WSJ
30:18 - GSR Ventures spins out new US branch, Informed Ventures, with tenured partners Fierce Healthcare
31:05 - Dr. Oz describes changes he would bring to Medicare, Medicaid as CMS administrator HFMA
36:05 - Trump administration charts a new course at the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation HFMA
36:53 - Startups Prep for Potential Medicaid Cuts WSJ
39:25 - Trump fires 2 Democratic FTC commissioners, Andrew Ferguson defends decision Fierce Healthcare
42:56 - FTC again pushes back on Indiana hospitals' 2nd merger attempt Fierce Healthcare
46:39 - RFK Jr.'s HHS picks up Biden admin legal fight against 340B rebates Fierce Healthcare
48:38 - Trump Administration Weighing Major Cuts to Funding for Domestic HIV Prevention WSJ
53:30 - Cigna closes $3.3B sale of Medicare plans to HCSC Fierce Healthcare
54:06 - Employers Get Big Drug Discounts Through Program For Hospitals That Serve Poor Patients WSJ
55:40 - Highmark posts $29.4B in 2024 revenue amid ongoing rise in utilization Fierce Healthcare
57:06 - Mass General Brigham announces $400M cancer care investment ahead of Dana-Farber split Fierce Healthcare
58:54 - DispatchHealth and Medically Home merge, creating one of nation's largest hospital-at-home providers Fierce Healthcare
1:00:26 - Pfizer Has a New Playbook for Reviving Sales—and It’s Starting to Pay Off WSJ
1:01:42 -
Every week, healthcare VCs and Jumpstart Health Investors co-founders Vic Gatto and Marcus Whitney review and unpack the happenings in US Healthcare, finance, technology and policy. With a firm belief that our healthcare system is doomed without entrepreneurship, they work through the mud to find the jewels, highlight headwinds and tailwinds, and bring on the smartest guests to fill in the gaps.
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Thank you.
Alright.
Happy Thursday.
How you doing?
I'm good.
It's a lot going on in the world.
It's good to get caught up in
things.
Yeah.
Um, I don't even know where to start.
Um, I had a really bad night of sleep two nights ago, and then last night I got nine and a half hours sleep.
Oh, nice.
Uh, thanks to some blackout curtains in my room.
Yeah.
Um, but I I, I do have to say it feels like, uh, there's a, there's a speed that things are starting to, to move at right now that is making it, uh, critical for this show.
Mm-hmm.
Because I don't know what I would do if I didn't have this checkpoint.
Yeah.
To, to stop and try to, uh.
You know, capture what has happened in these different categories and try to sit down with you and, and
yeah.
And what is real and what is hyperbole that politicians are saying for their own purposes.
And there's a, there's a lot of both.
I mean, totally random, but I, but I feel like I need to bring it up just 'cause it's, so, two days ago, this is gonna be a hard left and I'll, I'll, I'll circle back.
Okay.
Yeah.
Um, so in the mixed martial arts space, there's a, um, there's a journalist, his name is Luke Thomas.
And, uh, he used to be on SiriusXM.
And, um, then he left there and kind of did his own YouTube show with this other guy.
And, and, uh, he, he's, he's pretty well known as, um, a really, really solid, thorough MMMA journalist.
Like really detailed.
Um, there's, he understands
the different styles Yes.
And can
break it down at a deep level.
Yeah.
At a deep level.
So, you know, over the course of the last, um, year and a half, I would say, and, and, and really heavily last year.
Last last year, you could, you could really see it if you were an MMA fan and you were sort of watching his, his, um, journalistic takes.
Um, one of the big things that happened over the course of last year was, you know, Trump was ramping up his comeback and one of the big platforms that he leveraged was the UFC.
Yeah.
He's got a long standing relationship with Dana White and the UFC.
Yeah.
You know, like the history is that, uh, the.
You know, there were, there were actually, um, Republicans, John McCain, um, in particular who, um, was very much against
Oh, in existing
or, yeah.
Yeah.
Didn't, didn't sport.
Yeah.
Didn't think it should be illegal sport, you know, should be outlawed, all this other kind of stuff.
Um, and at the time, you know, Trump was more like Mr. Atlantic City.
Mm-hmm.
And so he was like, yes.
You know, like, and he did a lot with wwe.
Yeah.
And so they was like, you know, let's, let's, yeah.
He likes a good show.
Yeah, exactly.
And, and he, and he is into boxing and Yeah.
Fighting and all that kind stuff.
So, so, so they started this relationship.
So now UFC is, you know, one of the biggest Yeah.
It, it's certainly one, it's certainly one of the fastest growing sports in the world.
That's like not, um, that's not a question.
And, and they've got this global platform because they have fighters from all around the world.
Yeah.
You know, if you look at their champions, they'll be from Africa or from Eastern Europe, or you know, Spain or, I mean, that's one of the great things about, it's, it, it's.
It's a global sport.
Yeah.
Right?
Yeah.
So.
So last year, you know, Trump was showing up at like every big event, and he would walk out in the beginning with Dana White and have the American flag sort of going on everywhere.
And, you know, and Joe Rogan is, you know, I mean, this was all incredibly well coordinated, right?
Yeah.
All the way down to the Joe Rogan, Donald Trump interview at the, you know, at the end of the race.
And then Joe Rogan endorsing Trump like two days before the election or something like that.
Like, it was all just incredibly well orchestrated.
So, um, so Luke Thomas, I, I guess, you know, is, is a liberal.
And he was getting like more and more like sort of riled up by, by the fact that this sports platform was clearly being used Yeah.
As a, as a political campaign platform.
Right.
Um, and, and so, you know, more and more talking about that and more and more MMA fans, 'cause there's a lot of MMA fans that are, you know, on the right side of the album kind of going after him.
So anyway, I, I say all that to just set the stage for who this guy is.
So he comes out with this sub, this, this, uh, post two days ago saying, Hey, you know, we're in a wacky world.
I'm starting a substack because MMA fighters are now, and, and MMA fighters and MMA, um, owners now have an unbelievable amount of influence in politics.
Right.
And, uh.
Nobody thought this would happen, but here we are.
And so I need a different platform to like talk about this because there's nobody who's actually qualified to talk about this, this level of influence.
And it's very, very real.
It's, it's like, it, it's, it's way more real than people are giving you credit for.
Right.
So Monday was St. Patrick's Day, Conor McGregor, you know, Conor McGregor was Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Conor McGregor, um, most well-known mixed martial artists of, of all time, um, was in the White House for St.
Patrick's Day and he was in the Oval Office and he made a statement about all the issues in Ireland, um, and the things that need to happen there and how it needs to be much more like the Trump administration and how, you know, all the things around immigration and mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You, you can pretty much put it together.
So then today, um, he put a post out on Instagram and he's running for president, he's running for President of Ireland, of violent.
I guess that's good.
I don't know if that's good or bad.
I guess that's good.
I'm not asking you to respond to whether it's good or bad.
Right.
It's, it's, it's, but it's incredible
that the change, um, that, and it's Conor McGregor, I mean, I mean, he's probably gonna win.
He's probably gonna win.
Yeah.
He's probably gonna win.
Yeah.
So, um, a long way of just talking about how rapidly our world is changing in ways that people just really had not previously considered.
Yeah.
Um, it's uh, it's something else.
It's something else.
Yeah.
I mean the, uh, the establishment, the institutions, the rules of society, how everything works after World War ii, I think are gonna be completely questioned and many of them will be changed.
And I mean, after Trump won the first time.
I now am not surprised at the difference who wins elections.
It's a, it's a, I don't know.
It's an emergent property.
The, the population does whatever they do, and they're not, they're not looking at like a detail list of pros and cons.
They're, they're deciding the way they decide everything.
Partially, rationally, and partially, maybe more than half emotionally from emotionally.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, uh, so yeah, thank you for continuing to sit in with me every Thursday.
Yeah.
Before we even get going.
Just 'cause, uh, I would have a very hard time and, and I'll tell you what else, man, I, I, I notice it when I talk to other people.
I think people are so overwhelmed, um, not just with the whole flood the zone strategy, but I think the whiplash, uh, you know, the, the 180 plus the flood the zone.
Mm-hmm.
Um, it, it, it.
It absolutely will short circuit you.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
It absolutely will short circuit you.
Um, and I think we're lucky both because we, we have this platform, um, to think through all this stuff, but also I, we, we sort of saw this all unfold because we were early listeners to all in.
Yeah.
You know?
Mm-hmm.
We, we, we were, we watched how, how those four guys started talking about VC and, and then, you know, then COVID hit and.
And then Sachs kind of took it in, in, in this direction.
Yeah.
And, and the different, you know, and, and watching Elon sort of, you know, come onto their platform.
Yeah.
And you know, I, I like, I feel like we got to see this unfold, and so we understand the players and why it is the way it is and why Scott Besson just did an hour long interview with the all in guys and Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Um, and I feel like even, you know, even what I just shared with you about mixed martial arts is one of, you know, I feel fortunate that I'm a, I'm a, yeah.
You know, you, I'm a fighter, so, you know, I mean,
you've either, you've either been in the ring or on the mat fighting or you haven't.
Yeah, that's right.
And it's not, there's no middle ground,
really.
No.
Yeah, no.
So, so anyway, um, and even with all that it, this, this is still a lot to track.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think it is, uh, I mean the benefit for me is that, um, people are very emotionally triggered by something that happens.
Yep.
One way or the other.
It doesn't matter which side you're on.
And here in Nashville, we have plenty on both sides.
Sure.
Um, and I think the fact that it's healthcare and we're gonna have to talk about it and be reasonably balanced and try to get to what's actually happening and what's the messaging.
And those aren't the exact same thing.
No.
I think it helps me be able to, um, not just immediately react to something that happens on CNN or Fox or on the radio and have more, maybe not more grounding, more perspective or more ability to take a deep breath and try to like see okay, what what's real?
I mean, there's plenty that's going on.
That's real.
Yeah.
But there's also a lot of noise
up there, there, there, there's a, there's a lot of benefit and then we'll, we'll, we'll actually get to the show.
Sure.
But there, there's a lot of benefit to.
Not being easily triggered.
And I don't mean that in some stoic way.
I mean that in a way where you're actually able to digest what, what's happening and put it onto some form of scaffolding Yeah.
That your brain can actually make sense of.
Right?
Yeah.
It it, and so that's the thing.
Even though things are happening at this incredibly rapid pace, I still can mostly make sense of it.
Yeah.
Um, for the many, many, many, many millions of people who, who are unable to do that because they don't have the mental model, they weren't exposed.
They for all those reasons.
This is just, you know, it's
just scary trauma.
It's trauma traumatizing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's trauma.
Um, alright, with that, let's dig in the economy.
Uh.
The Fed met and they are holding still, but we have a poly market saying we're likely to get a series of cuts this year.
Tell me a little bit about that.
Yeah, so, um, the Fed met and they kind of, you know, as you said, they, they're still concerned about inflation, but they're also somewhat concerned about the job market and didn't make any changes.
But they did reduce the QT pretty dramatically from I think 25 billion a month to 5 billion.
That's significant.
So they, they're, um, reducing their balance sheet at a much slower, slower pace.
Yeah.
Which is not accommodating, but it's less, it's less, uh, friction.
Yeah.
It's less, less money being removed out, removed outta the system.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Um, so I think that was positive.
And then.
Yeah.
The, the poly market and the bond markets are suggesting there'll be three cuts this year.
Um, I don't really ex, I mean, there's enough layoffs and changes in the economy in addition to the tariffs.
Mm-hmm.
He, he spent a long General, Powell, spent a long time in the press conference talking about terrorists are gonna increase inflation.
And so he's cautiously watching that.
I don't believe that that's gonna really happen, but we'll see.
You don't believe that tariffs are gonna increase inflation?
I think they will, but I think the job cuts Doge is doing and other things are, are more of a drag on the economy.
So I think in net net it's gonna be down.
Well, I, I, I was actually in a meeting today.
I, I, I mean, both things can be true, but I, I think if we're just talking about tariffs in, in isolation, yeah.
Um, I was in a meeting today with, um.
A guy who runs a boat company.
Okay.
And he said over the last week, um, 90% of his suppliers came to him and said, uh, everything's gonna cost 20% more.
Yeah.
I mean, I have that in my portfolio companies.
We are gonna have to raise prices because our decent amount of our medical device supplies come from China or come from somewhere where there's significant taxes.
I think that is, I think that's a fact.
Yeah.
I mean, that's standalone is, is, yeah.
Is for sure a fact.
Yeah.
Okay.
I, I also think that the economy is slowing due to federal job cuts.
And so I think, I think those things will net out, but we will see how fast either one of them take
effect.
Yeah.
But will it net out in the CPI.
Like, I, like, I feel like, you know, that's, that's the, that's the question.
Yeah.
I, I, I, for the
consumer, does it net out?
I think we'll have to see.
Uh, I think it will.
Yeah.
I get your macro equation, but I'm like, mm. I'm not sure those two things touch fast enough.
Yeah.
The question is timing.
Yeah.
It's a timing issue.
Yeah.