The Tudor Dixon Podcast: Energy Independence and the Future of Energy

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: The Tudor Dixon Podcast: Energy Independence and the Future of Energy
Release Date: May 7, 2025
Hosts: Clay Travis and Buck Sexton
Guests: U.S. Representatives Rich McCormick and Beth Van Dyne
Platform: iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction to the Freedom Fighters Summit

The episode kicks off at the Job Creators Network Freedom Fighters Summit, where hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton engage with U.S. Representatives Rich McCormick and Beth Van Dyne. The panel delves into pressing issues surrounding debt, trade relations, energy independence, and the challenges facing rural healthcare in America.

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Debate on National Debt and Midterm Elections

Key Points:

• Debt Concerns: The discussion begins with a debate on the national debt and its potential impact on upcoming midterm elections.
• Midterm Predictions: Rich McCormick expresses concern about the likelihood of losing seats in the midterm elections, stating, “Statistically, though, you lose 20 seats in a midterm, we lose three. We're in the minority seats” (04:25).
• Economic Strategies: Beth Van Dyne counters by highlighting President Trump's strategic use of tariffs as a bold economic move, emphasizing, “He's a bold president” (04:15).

Notable Quote:

Beth Van Dyne: “I think [President Trump's tariff strategy] is brilliant. Who has the guts to do that?” (04:15)

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Trade Relations and the China Factor

Key Points:

• China's Economic Strategies: The panel explores China's aggressive economic tactics, including currency manipulation and its Made in China initiative, which has significantly boosted its economy over the past two decades.
• Largest Navy: Rich McCormick highlights the strategic advantage of China's 50 times more ports compared to the U.S., contributing to its position as the largest navy globally (04:48).
• Trade Imbalance: The U.S. imports five times more from China than it exports, creating a significant economic imbalance (07:18).

Notable Quote:

Rich McCormick: “China is playing a game of chicken with an economy that is not great for them right now.” (05:10)

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Energy Independence and Future of Energy

Key Points:

• All-of-the-Above Strategy: The discussion emphasizes the necessity of embracing a diverse energy portfolio, including oil, renewable energy, and nuclear power, to achieve true energy independence.
• Texas Model: Tutor Dixon references Texas as the 8th largest economy globally, attributing its growth to reduced regulations and a favorable business environment, which in turn has spurred advancements in both traditional and renewable energy sectors (09:08).
• Renewable Energy Challenges: The panel debates the viability of renewable energy sources like solar and wind, noting their limitations in providing base power and the ecological impacts they may entail (22:43).

Notable Quotes:

Tutor Dixon: “We are all of the above [energy sources]. We need to be looking at all of the above sources for energy.” (10:07)

Beth Van Dyne: “Solar panels are absorbing energy that would normally be used by life to produce oxygen... it messes with the ecosystem.” (21:17)

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Regulatory Environment and Its Impact on Business

Key Points:

• Deregulation Success in Texas: The panel applauds Texas for cutting down regulations, fostering a positive business climate that attracts various industries, including energy.
• Mandates Hindering Growth: Contrastingly, Michigan's stringent energy mandates are criticized for scaring businesses away, potentially leading to job losses and economic downturns (11:38).
• Market-Driven Energy Solutions: Emphasis is placed on allowing the market to determine energy advancements rather than government-imposed regulations, which can stifle innovation and competitiveness (19:21).

Notable Quote:

Beth Van Dyne: “Business, you can see all the states that are doing that are failing. They're driving businesses out of their state.” (11:38)

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Challenges in Rural Healthcare

Key Points:

• Regulatory Burdens: The conversation shifts to the detrimental effects of excessive regulations on rural healthcare providers, leading to the closure of small practices and their absorption into larger, more expensive hospital systems (28:10).
• Administrative Costs: It's highlighted that over a quarter of healthcare spending goes to administrative costs, exacerbating inefficiencies and driving up expenses (25:26).
• Physician Shortages: With an increasing number of physicians employed by hospital systems rather than running independent practices, access to personalized care in rural areas is diminishing (30:02).

Notable Quotes:

Beth Van Dyne: “When you save 2.28% on physician reimbursements, you force them into a 30% more expensive hospital system to the detriment of our rural communities.” (28:10)

Rich McCormick: “You have less access, less quality of care and more expensive.” (37:10)

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Proposed Solutions and Policy Recommendations

Key Points:

• Healthcare Reform: Representatives advocate for reducing administrative burdens in healthcare by leveraging AI and increasing competition to lower costs and improve quality.
• Energy Policy Adjustments: The panel suggests that energy policies should support a balanced mix of energy sources without favoring one over the others through mandates or excessive regulation.
• Economic Strategies: Emphasizing the importance of maintaining a trade balance and reducing dependency on Chinese imports to strengthen the U.S. economy and national security (09:17).

Notable Quotes:

Rich McCormick: “If we just save 10% of that 5 trillion [healthcare spending], that's half a trillion dollars you could spend somewhere else in the government.” (25:26)

Beth Van Dyne: “Nuclear power is a great source of clean energy... it's very safe and we're only going to get better at micro.” (21:17)

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Conclusion: The Path Forward

The episode concludes with a consensus on the need for balanced policies that support both economic growth and essential services like healthcare and energy. By reducing regulatory burdens, fostering competition, and embracing a diverse energy strategy, the panel believes that the U.S. can achieve greater energy independence, strengthen its economy, and enhance healthcare accessibility, especially in rural areas.

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Notable Quotes Overview

• Beth Van Dyne on Tariffs: “He's a bold president” (04:15)
• Rich McCormick on China's Economy: “China is playing a game of chicken with an economy that is not great for them right now.” (05:10)
• Tutor Dixon on Energy Sources: “We are all of the above [energy sources].” (10:07)
• Beth Van Dyne on Solar Panels: “Solar panels are absorbing energy that would normally be used by life to produce oxygen... it messes with the ecosystem.” (21:17)
• Beth Van Dyne on Business Failures Due to Regulations: “They're driving businesses out of their state.” (11:38)
• Rich McCormick on Healthcare Access: “You have less access, less quality of care and more expensive.” (37:10)
• Rich McCormick on Healthcare Spending: “If we just save 10% of that 5 trillion, that's half a trillion dollars you could spend somewhere else in the government.” (25:26)
• Beth Van Dyne on Nuclear Power: “Nuclear power is a great source of clean energy... it's very safe and we're only going to get better at micro.” (21:17)

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Final Thoughts

This episode provides an in-depth analysis of the intertwined challenges of economic policy, energy independence, and healthcare reform. Through insightful discussions and expert opinions, the panel outlines actionable strategies aimed at fostering a robust and resilient American economy while ensuring essential services remain accessible and affordable.

Transcript

[Tutor Dixon]

You're listening to an I Heart Podcast.

[Rich McCormick]

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[Tutor Dixon]

Get caught up on a lot of news. It's called the seven from the Washington Post.

[Rich McCormick]

It's a newsletter and podcast.

[Tutor Dixon]

Whether you're reading or hit play, you get seven stories you need to know.

[Rich McCormick]

And you can consume it all in just a few minutes.

[Tutor Dixon]

The 7 is out every weekday morning by 7:00am Eastern.

[Rich McCormick]

I'm Hannah Jewell.

[Tutor Dixon]

I'm one of the writers and I host the show Find the seven Podcast.

[Rich McCormick]

Wherever you're listening, the newsletter link is.

[Tutor Dixon]

Waiting for you in the show notes.

[Beth Van Dyne]

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[Rich McCormick]

Welcome to the Tudor Dixon Podcast. We are here at the Job Creators Network Freedom Fighters Summit. We actually, I'm here with U.S. representatives Beth Van Dun and Rich McCormick. Rich and I just got off of a panel that was a little bit of a feisty panel together, but we were talking about debt, so it should be feisty, right?

[Beth Van Dyne]

I love a good debate. It wasn't even really debate. It was just different opinions on the same thing. We all essentially agree with each other, but the variety of opinions. I love how people came at it from different angles. I love the way it was hosted from kind of a devil's advocate position that it made it fun.

[Rich McCormick]

But you said something that was scary. You said we are going to lose the midterms. So I'm giving you a chance to say you don't think we are.

[Beth Van Dyne]

Well, I hope we'd bother if we do things. I think this, this game of chicken that, that President Trump's paying on tariffs, I think he's going to pay off. I think it's brilliant. Who has the guts to do that? He's a bold president.

[Rich McCormick]

Yeah.

[Beth Van Dyne]

And if he gets 70 nations to come to the table with 00 tariffs, including 20 of the biggest economies in the world, next, ours, that would be a huge win. Now what happens with China is going to be instrumental in that. But everybody else already wants 00 tariffs, that's a huge win for him. And if it pays off, you're right, we can maintain. Statistically, though, you lose 20 seats in a midterm, we lose three. We're in the minority seats.

[Rich McCormick]

That's a lot of seats. But so, so China is interesting because China is playing a game of chicken with an economy that is not great for them right now. They have a. An aging population. They're not having. They don't have enough workers. They've taken off. They've bitten off more than they can chew right now. And I think he sees that. But do you think that the American people are missing something? Do you think he's missing something?

[Beth Van Dyne]

I think if we look at China and the way they do, their Federal Reserve is different from us. They pay themselves. They don't have to rely on people actually buying treasury notes because of the way they design. They alter their currency. They have been cheating their way to the top since they joined the World Trade Organization 20 years ago. Their Made in China initiative in 2015, which has tripled their economy, led to exploitation of separate countries. But they also have some real advantages over it. Remember, they can produce 200 times the shipping capacity. We can. They have 50 more.

[Tutor Dixon]

Right?

[Beth Van Dyne]

50 times more ports than we do. They have some.

[Rich McCormick]

And that gives them the largest navy in the world. And I think people don't understand that having the largest navy in the world puts us at a huge disadvantage when it comes to them potentially invading. And I talked to a general years ago and I said, but they wouldn't do that to us naively because we provide them with. We purchase so much from them and we provide. We have this trade partnership like that doesn't matter when you're dealing with a dictator. So I do think that's something we need to stay aware of. Having these ports, having the largest navy in the world puts us at a great disadvantage with a country like China that is wanting to rule the world.

[Beth Van Dyne]

And they're trying to destabilize our currency on purpose. They're using brics. They're also using. They're divesting. Divesting from our debt. They used to have a bricks. So BRICS is basically an alliance of different countries that are trying to get out the US currency as the standard. Since Britain woods in 72, the US dollar has been the gold standard of currencies. Everybody else based their currency off of our currency. Gives us tremendous political and economic advantages. But they want to make sure you get rid of the petroval. They want to make sure that people are starting to use trade in yen or trade in anything but the American currency because they want to supplant us as the world power. Remember, they'd gone from about $5 trillion economy about 10 years ago to a $17 trillion economy. We've grown too, but we're up to about 27 trillion. They're closing on us very rapidly. And of course, with their innovations, the fact they can streamline their economy because only one person makes all the decisions for the country. They don't have a balanced democracy like we do, with competitive powers at play, with the advanced regulation and taxation system that we have, we're playing into their hands in many ways. We have to be very, very savvy.

[Rich McCormick]

And we're importing five to one what we export to China and that's a problem as well. I don't think people realize how much we actually buy from China. The President was talking about made in America. He came to Michigan this week. He was saying made in the USA are my three favorite words. Is it possible to get back to made in the usa?

[Tutor Dixon]

Well, it absolutely is, but it also depends on what you're talking about. You know, are we talking about automotive, automotives, where a lot of the critical elements may not be here in our country, or are we, are we talking about fruits and vegetables that we can grow here? But anyway, we have a global economy. When we talk about China, the fact is, is that China is looking at, they own a lot of our debt. If we go down, they're going to lose that. And they have such a precarious economy right now, they can't afford to have that happen. They rely on our markets to purchase their products. If we go down, that can't happen. So we do have a yin yang relationship with China, but the fact is they're playing the long game. We start looking at the investments that they are making in other countries, the trade agreements that they have with other countries. They are trying to own the infrastruct of all of Africa, of Latin America and they're getting into the Middle east as proud as we are about our economic freedom and our economic independence on our energy sector and how we were able to not only be energy independent, but also be able to outsource and export some of our American freedom fuel. The fact is, is that our imbalance now with Saudi Arabia with Chinese purchasing of their energy has put us at a disadvantage. We don't have as much, I think, influence now in the Middle east, but we do have an opportunity with trade agree agreements and making sure that we are holding the feet to the fire of these countries, that we have strong trade balances with that they're actually completing the agreements. And we haven't seen that in the last four years. But I thought no Trump, you do.

[Rich McCormick]

You'Re from Texas, so you brought up energy. Obviously, we think of oil when we think of Texas.

[Tutor Dixon]

You think of everything when you think of Texas. What are you talking about? Got the Cowboys. You got Cowboys.

[Rich McCormick]

We, Michigan's great, too.

[Beth Van Dyne]

All right.

[Rich McCormick]

We're not going to just highlight Texas, although I will say that. All right. I will capitulate a bit because Texas has done an interesting job of opening their regulation, their regulatory program and systems and the energy. We think of oil when we think of Texas, but we also should think of renewable energy in Texas because you have grown fastest in the country there.

[Tutor Dixon]

In wind and solar. Yeah.

[Rich McCormick]

So when you hear people talking about that from being from there and, and I'm sure you've dealt with a lot of people on both sides of that energy. And when I've talked to people in the oil industry, they're like, we're not afraid of renewable energy. We want all energy. So how do you think the energy conversation needs to change for Republicans?

[Tutor Dixon]

So Texas is the 8th largest economy in the world. We are growing. You know, we're one of the fastest growing states. There's a reason for that, as you mentioned, you know, I'm cutting down on regulations, having a positive business environment, freedom for our citizen. Those are all things that people want to. They come to one of the reasons why they want to move there. But we also have, with that growing population and the growing businesses, we have a higher and higher need for energy. So we are all of the above. And you know, the governor I'm very thankful for this is pushing now for nuclear. We need to be looking at all of the above sources for energy. And we are seeing the private sector. That is, there are some of the largest users of electricity willing to come and be partners. You know, saying that, hey, we can, if we are a bitcoin miner, for example, we can actually buy some, you know, buy some of the transformers. We can put more energy on the grid during the day and we can use it when it's low need. Those are the ways that kind of thinking outside, you know, our typical thought process is the way that we need to look at energy and, but also not picking winners and losers. And I think we have seen that in the past and it's a, it's a mistake I don't want to repeat.

[Rich McCormick]

Well, that's the interesting part for. You've talked a little bit about mandates, and that's obviously in Michigan. We have seen the energy mandates crush industry because people are afraid of hearing that you have to be 100% renewable by 2035. It's, it's not possible to be 100% renewable. But that is also base power.

[Tutor Dixon]

You're never going to get base power.

[Rich McCormick]

Exactly. So you so businesses are afraid they won't come to the state of Michigan anymore. And that to me is very devastating. So when you are talking about on a larger scale reducing regulation, what about the fact that you have the opposite side of the aisle wanting to push mandates, wanting to create laws that prevent.

[Beth Van Dyne]

Business, you can see all the states that are doing that are failing. They're driving businesses out of their state. Georgia. The governor of Kemp just talked about Georgia being the number one state to do business for the last 11 years. I'm not sure what criteria that is, but I'll buy it because we're in Georgia right now. We have we're the only state in the last 20 years to actually build and complete a nuclear power plant. Two of them with Vogel. And the energy can supply is only part of the problem. The solution, I should say. And if you look at the natural gas that we have in America, the other clean energies we have, not just the renewables, but actually things that don't put out a huge carbon imprint. And quite frankly, I'm not even concerned about that. If you look at the amount of carbon the United States puts out, it's infinitesimal. When you compare it to the atmosphere and the impact we had, there's tons of books written on it. When you follow the real science, get back to the economics of business being good stewards of our natural resources. But we have got to explore all these energy sources because quite frankly, when Texas goes too much into wind and solar, you can see how that's resulted in bad things. When the weather gets bad, that could go for any state. We had to be careful not to buy into the liberal ideology of one source fits all. We have to let the industry drive energy, not the regulatory burdens of the American government.

[Rich McCormick]

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[Beth Van Dyne]

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[Tutor Dixon]

That?

[Beth Van Dyne]

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[Rich McCormick]

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[Tutor Dixon]

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[Beth Van Dyne]

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[Rich McCormick]

I want to tell you about my partners at Preborn When a woman experiences an unplanned pregnancy, she often feels alone and afraid, and so many times her first response is to seek out an abortion. But because of the generosity of listeners like you, that search may lead her to a Preborn Network clinic where she will choose life not only for her baby, but for herself. Preborn offers God's love and compassion to hurting women and then provides a free ultrasound to introduce them to the life growing inside of them. This combination brings the ultimate miracle of life to life, which is why Preborn sees on average 200 babies saved every day. When Paige found out she was pregnant, she didn't feel she could afford the child, and the father actually threatened her to have an abortion. But when her mom found out, she introduced her to a Preborn Network clinic. At the clinic, Paige was given the support and resources she needed to help her choose life, and the dad even started attending parenting classes with her. Now today, they are raising a beautiful son together. Your tax deductible donation of $28 sponsors one ultrasound. So how many babies can you save? Please donate your gift today. Just dial £250 and say the keyword baby. That's £250 baby. Or go to preborn.comdixon that's preborn.comdixon Sponsored Preborn I'm Molly Roberts.

[Beth Van Dyne]

And I'm Drew Goins. Each Friday on Impromptu, we talk through the questions we can't stop thinking about. Do we need to rethink how much we drink? Why are companies really asking workers to come back to the office?

[Tutor Dixon]

Does boycotting a business actually work?

[Beth Van Dyne]

Should we quit social media?

[Rich McCormick]

We're here when the news gets personal.

[Tutor Dixon]

And the headlines hit home.

[Beth Van Dyne]

Join Molly and me every Friday on Impromptu from Washington Post Opinions Find Impromptu.

[Tutor Dixon]

Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Beth Van Dyne]

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[Rich McCormick]

So in Texas, how do people feel when they end up with a solar field near them or a wind? Because that's something. I mean, I think that's where the American people get nervous. They're like, are we going to have food? Are we going to have food issues? Food insecurity or whatever the word is that we use, which is just people not having enough food. If are we going to end up with.

[Tutor Dixon]

Actually, the definition is not having a grocery store within like two miles.

[Rich McCormick]

Well, I guess I would say I would worry about farms, you know, like, well, do we have farms within two miles? And that really is a question. Are we going to lose our farmland? The reaction in Michigan has been interesting. They want local control of that, and that's been taken away. What do you. How does that work in Texas?

[Tutor Dixon]

We've got a lot. We've got a lot of land in Texas, and not all of it is, you know, necessarily going to be farmland. All right, we got a lot of ranches in Texas. But it's one of those things when we talk about food, that's something everybody consumes, right? I mean, everybody is a consumer of food and making sure that we're protecting our farmers, which means not selling land to places like China, which, you know, Texas have been very good about coming out and saying, we're not going to, you know, we're not selling our farmland to China. But also looking at ways that farmers right now are kind of being harmed and whether or not that's the estate tax, that if you've got a farm that's been in the family for a number of years and all of a sudden, you know, the. The owner dies, the family now has to pay this immense estate tax, they're going to have to sell the property to be able to do it. So looking at ways that the government is actually harming that industry is important. And I'm. I'm a big. When we talk about energy, I'm not necessarily looking at the industry picking winners and losers, but I think the market should. And I think it's the same way when we look at. On. On. On our tax side is so often or not, you see this big thumb of government coming in and saying, we're going to incentivize this at the cost of this other potential research or technology, because they just think it's better. The fact is, let the market decide and get off the stranglehold of the regulations. You have something to add?

[Beth Van Dyne]

Sure. You can tell them I'm biting a bit. So when it comes to solar panels, for example, the biggest solar power producer in the world by far is China. How much of their energy is produced by Solar panels. Less than 1%. Guess what? In the United States, we can buy them from China, we can produce them ourselves. But guess how much of our energy is produced by solar power? Less than 1%. It's not the answer folks. You could build all the solar panels you want, you can put it over all the seabeds, but guess what? Now you're killing algae. Which guess what it does, it produces oxygen. It actually we have a lot of research the side effects of it. I just don't think you're going to offset the solar panels. Solar panels are absorbing energy that would normally be used by, by, by life to produce oxygen, to produce atmosphere, to do the things it's supposed to do. It messes with the ecosystem. Nuclear power is a great source of clean energy. If you want to focus on that, you can recycle the nuclear waste and actually we can come out with something much more efficient. And it's a bridge to the next energy source, which it may be something in outer space beamed down in the United States because the Three Mile island, which set us back decades and decades and of course what happened over in Russia, obviously a bad thing, but, but quite frankly in the big safety and eco impact, it's very safe and we're only going to get better at micro. If you look at the modular reactors, that is the future energy consumption is not going to go down, it's going up parabolically. These AI super centers, the fact that every kid walks around with a computer in their hand, you think the energy consumption is going to go down. Every kid has a set of iPod EarPods. The fact that everybody has so many electronics and AI is expanding. This is just the beginning of the next generation of energy consumption.

[Tutor Dixon]

We talk about solar energy. I don't necessarily think that it's going to. If you have it on a highway which they're creating these already, you have it on a rooftop, you can create those already. People should be able to use it. That's fine, especially if the infrastructure isn't there. I was over in, in Africa and they're using solar energy. However, the fact is that Africa is so happy that 85% of its energy is sustainable. But the fact is that when you start thinking about why so many people die of starvation in Africa, the number one reason. Do you know what it is? Lack of refrigeration. Why do they have lack of refrigeration? Because of lack of access to electricity. So while they may be promoting that, and by the way that's being promoted by China because a lot of Their infrastructure, especially their energy infrastructure, is being supported by China, who's actually benefiting financially from this and from owning the long term infrastructure of an entire nation. The people are suffering as a result. So solar has its fits and that's fine. If you are a consumer and that is your focus, that is your priority, fine, you could have a market that creates it, but have the market be able to actually support that. It should not be the government saying we're going to take a baseline power like coal and we're going to demonize it and we're going to be able to prevent that from existing without being so regulated that it actually harms it. To taking something like solar and wind, which has its place. And that's fine if people want to be able to purchase it all for it, create that in the market. But when you do it at the expense of a baseline power load, you're harming people. In some instances you're killing people. When you can't have heat in areas that get down to double digit negatives, when you can't have cool air conditioning in Texas when it's 109 degrees outside, when you don't have access, you know, a hospital sometimes, or if you are at home and you are on, you know, a machine that helps you breathe, that helps give you oxygen, you don't have access to electricity. That is a problem. And I don't think the government, when it's looking at its, oh, we're going to support this. I've often laughed that you don't plug a Tesla into a tree. You know, all of these things that we are so proud of ourselves, actually needs energy. And instead of again demonizing that industry over regulating it, making it not competitive with the rest of the world, we needed to support it.

[Rich McCormick]

I mean, you think about just what you said, how many things you plug in at the end of the night and you plug in so many devices. Right, exactly. So you just have that constant stream of energy being used. But you brought up hospitals and I think that there was. Energy is one thing when it comes to hospitals, but after Covid, we lost a lot of our rural hospitals. We lost a lot of support there. What is the answer for health care for people in rural areas?

[Beth Van Dyne]

Complex question. It's a $5 trillion industry in America, Healthcare alone, it's the biggest spending item by far for individuals, every individual. It's the biggest spending item in government, second biggest spending item in business, probably the biggest expense for most families if they buy their own health care program. And it's the Fastest inflationary cost to Americans by itself. Our ecosystem of health care is a 5 trillion dollar industry that would be the third largest economy in the world by itself. Incredibly inefficient. But a quarter, actually over a quarter now of every dollar spent on healthcare goes to administrative costs. Ironically, this ties into what your first question was. The AI consumption. The money that we spend on supplying energy to AI can actually solve our problem. If you just save 10% of that 5 trillion, that's a half a trillion dollars you could spend somewhere else in the government. It solves our debt problem, it solves our healthcare problem because that money can be shifted to other places where it can actually be used better. Because if we're using AI to help write the note to actually bill to actually solve the backload of by the way insurance company which make four of the top 10 companies in America and seven of the top 20 which are making massive profits while Medicare and Medicaid are struggling mightily. Where we have 40% denial of an ER billing system, where we have pre approval processes that aren't happening. We as legislators had to be smarter on how we hold those insurance companies accountable. Now I'm sure that I'm going to be demonized by this because we also have to face down the biggest lobbyist group in America. They could pay a million dollars to every legislator, 535 legislators and literally spend tens of millions against each one of those people who stand up against them because they don't want this problem solved. Because our waste is their profit. And this is the biggest problem. You want to know why these rural places can't survive? Because their payer mix is off. Because they were so reliant on Medicaid and Medicare instead of insurance companies that pay their their share. Of course it's incredibly complex but the fact that we don't have good competition. We have inefficient hospitals, we have hospital systems that are employing most of the Doctors or the PBMs. I mean you're talking about one of the most complex systems, not just the most expensive, most complex system problems we have in America. And the average legislator is not a doctor by the way. And even if you are a doctor doesn't mean you understand how this works. Anyways, I came into Congress thinking I knew everything about health care. I knew a fraction of what I need to know to solve the problem because it is a complex issue. Ways and Means manages Medicare, Energy Commissar e Commerce, Medicaid. Together they make up 26% of the budget of a a $7 trillion ecosystem.

[Tutor Dixon]

So I want to get on the rural side. I mean one of the reasons why you see less healthcare now on the rural side is because you're seeing all of these like small group practices or solar practitioners getting pushed out of, out of actual practice. This is a government, this is coming from government because we put so much more regulations now on healthcare providers that they can't stay in business, they can't afford to actually keep their offices open. So they are having, they're basically being forced to sell to these huge mega corporations that what do they want to do? They want to bring all of that to a massive health care center in the middle of a huge urban area because it's cheaper. So if we really actually cared about those rural areas, we would say okay cms, knock it off. You're not going to sit here and penalize these small. And look, and I will. My dad, fifth generation md, he was a solo practitioner but he found and he got rung out of office because you can't afford to have a regulatory department when you are one physician practice. And so you think about the cost. What you found as a direct result of this is you have less access, less quality of care and more expensive. And the way to do it is just to lift off the regulatory. We had a roundtable of physicians and we had one woman there. He was so frustrated she almost started to cry. We had news cameras there and she said I went to medical school, I learned what I learned. I had, you know, $250,000 of debt when I graduated, I started my own practice. It was my dream, it was what I always wanted to do. I have a relationship with my patients. She said, I found I could not stay in business. I had to sell my practice at a loss. I am now employed by a hospital system. She goes, I am no longer practicing medicine. I am following regulations. She was a monkey. Could do my job. And they don't know my patients. And we have people who never ever studied medicine who are making these decisions on patients lives. That's one of the huge problems that we've got.

[Beth Van Dyne]

And to my point now you have what used to be 17% of physicians working for hospital systems now is over 80% and it's more expensive. So for example, on the pay cut that we do for doctors every year on Medicare, Medicare reimbursements, which we just cut them another 2.8% last year. The hospitals don't get cut. So what happens? You're forcing them with regulatory burden that they can't afford because they don't have their own regulatory I can't employ a single person in a small practice to do the regulatory burden of keeping up on all the billing and coding and regulation. And so by joining a hospital all of a sudden, if I didn't have an agreement with you, my B12 shot would go up by thousands of percent. Sometimes it goes from being $12 to $150 for a B12 shot because you made an agreement with the hospital so you can work in conjunction with them, so you can buy their medication, help you with the nursery staffing. You sell your soul to the hospital system. And hospitals aren't. I don't want to demonize them, but they're more expensive by 30 to 40% a lot of times. And so by saving 2.28% on physician reimbursements, you force them into a 30% more expensive hospital system to the detriment of our rural committees, like Representative Van Dyne was just saying. And you basically ruin medicine because of unintended consequence of government and it's regulation, taxation and the way we approach medicine in general.

[Rich McCormick]

Stick around for more with Representatives Rich McCormick and Beth Van Dyne. But first, let me tell you about my partners at ifcj. Do you know that just like here in the US Israel has their own Independence Day? In case you missed it, this year, Israel's Independence Day was a few days ago on May 1st. But for the people of Israel, freedom is nothing more than a daily struggle just to survive. There's no real peace, only terror. No joy, just suffering. The Israeli government recognizes the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews for ongoing help to make sure the elderly, the sick, the wounded, soldiers and impoverished families don't fall through the cracks. Your gift to the Fellowship today will help provide life saving aid, medicine, hearty meals, safety and comfort. I believe that when we bless the people of Israel, we unlock God's blessing in our lives as well. Show your support to Israel's for Israel's Independence Day by making a life saving gift today. Call to make your gift at 888-488-IFCJ. That's 888-488-4325 or go online to ifcj.org again that's ifcj.org stay tuned.

[Beth Van Dyne]

Did you know that just like here in the US Israel has their own Independence Day? In case you missed it this year, Israel's Independence Day was a few days ago on May 1. But for the people of Israel, freedom is nothing more than a daily struggle to survive. There's no real peace, only terror no joy, just suffering. The Israeli government relies on the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews for ongoing help to make sure the elderly, the sick, the wounded, soldiers and impoverished families don't fall through the cracks. That's why your gift to the fellowship will provide such important life saving aid, medicine, hearty meals, safety and comfort. I believe that when you bless the people of Israel, we unlock God's blessing in our lives as well. So to show your support for Israel's independence, you can make a life saving gift today. You can call 888-488-IFCJ. That's 888-488-4325. You can also go online to ifcj.org that's ifcj.org hey Matt Gaetz here. Listen, after everything we've been through the last few years, saying we have trust issues is an understatement. They pushed a questionable vaccine and when we asked for alternatives like ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine, they shut us down. They used pressure lies and red tape to block access to medications that were once easy to get. That cannot happen again.

[Tutor Dixon]

And with All Family Pharmacy, it won't.

[Beth Van Dyne]

All Family Pharmacy is redefining healthcare. No waiting rooms, no delays, no insurance games. Just direct access to over 200 trusted medications including ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, menbendazole, antibiotics, emergency kits, and so much more. You can customize your order and have it shipped straight to your door. They believe in medical freedom. You decide what works for your health, not some bloated system. Over 100,000Americans already trust them and maybe it's time you do too. Go to allfamilypharmacy.com and use code USA10 for 10% off your first order. Again, that's allfamilypharmacy.com USA with code USA10 for 10% off.

[Rich McCormick]

I want to tell you about my partners at Preborn. When a woman experiences an unplanned pregnancy, she often feels alone and afraid. And so many times her first response is to seek out an abortion. But because of the generosity of listeners like you, that search may lead her to a Preborn Network clinic where she will choose life not only for her baby, but for herself. Preborn offers God's love and compassion to hurting women and then provides a free ultrasound to introduce them to the life growing inside of them. This combination brings the ultimate miracle of life to life, which is why Preborn sees on average 200 babies saved every day. When Paige found out she was pregnant, she didn't feel she could afford the child, and the father actually threatened her to have an abortion. But when her mom found out, she introduced her to a Preborn Network clinic. At the clinic, Paige was given the support and resources she needed to help her choose life, and the dad even started attending parenting classes with her. Now today, they are raising a beautiful son together. Your tax deductible donation of $28 sponsors one ultrasound. So how many babies can you save? Please donate your gift today. Just dial £250 and say the keyword baby. That's £250 baby. Or go to preborn.comdixon that's preborn.comdixon sponsored by Preborn. We've all done it. You see a headline but don't have time to read the whole story. Or there's so much news you're not sure what is worth your time.

[Tutor Dixon]

I'm Colby Ekowitz, co host of Post.

[Rich McCormick]

Reports, the weekday afternoon podcast from the Washington Post.

[Tutor Dixon]

Post Reports brings you what's relevant and revealing.

[Rich McCormick]

Breaking stories, politics, wellness, culture. Each episode goes beyond a headline for the context you need. Find Post Reports now wherever you're listening.

[Beth Van Dyne]

Deciding on what to listen to is hard. Using Xumo to stream music from iHeart 90s radio is easy. Or play iHeart country or hip hop beats your choice. All for free. Stream Easy with Zumo Play. Get live and on demand entertainment with no logins, no signups, no accounts, no hassle. This may stay in and binge American Hustle starring Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence. Layer cake with Daniel Craig in Sienna Miller and Snatch with Brad Pitt. All streaming free on Zumo Play. Go to play.zumo.com now. Life is hard. Zumo is easy.

[Rich McCormick]

Took my daughter to the physician in town and they're like, oh, you got to go to the big hospital system in Grand Rapids and see if she has to have surgery. And then you just spend. And I'm like, I'm just spending money. But I mean, it even happens to me as a cancer patient because I go, I'm like, okay, I have 10 years now. I've been going to the doctor every six months to the big hospital system just to pay. And they're, how do you feel? I'm like, I felt fine when I had cancer. How do you know that I don't have cancer now? I just go in there and we chat. But I feel like it's just a.

[Tutor Dixon]

Because they don't know you, right? They don't. They don't have a relationship with you anymore. You are One of many, because they've basically become small governments. And then you're having to go through the bureaucracy. You know, it's not like you pick up a phone, somebody answers and they're like, oh, yeah, tutor, it's good to hear you. How is the family? Like, they don't know you anymore. And that is like half the cow.

[Rich McCormick]

The shoers. That a status.

[Tutor Dixon]

It's both. It's absolutely both. When you look at the dollars that the state has an ability to be able to transfer, they are. They're choosing to be able to do it to the huge healthcare networks. During. During COVID right, hospitals were getting paid 30% more. If they had said it was a Covid case. And we saw all of these hospitals hire all these people. It is a. It is a rocket. And the people that suffer the most are Americans who need health care. And the idea that with the Affordable Care act, which is like the worst misnomer of a bill I've ever heard, except the Inflation Reduction act, that was pretty bad too. But with Obamacare, what you saw from that was it cost a lot more. And while we may have had health care coverage for people, they didn't get health care. So there were not. They may have been covered for insurance, but they didn't care. And the fact was, before they even started that initiative, Obama knew that 85% of all Americans already had some type of health insurance. It was the 15% that they were fighting for. Instead of making a really smart decision to help that 15%, what they did was they disrupted the entire industry. They put these massive health insurance companies in charge of everyone's health care. And as a result, decreased access, decreased quality, and increased costs.

[Beth Van Dyne]

And Quite frankly, this 15% without health insurance, a lot of those were young, healthy people who didn't need health insurance, quite frankly, but they needed them in the system to pay into it, to pay for everybody else. So it was on purpose, a design to eventually force us into. I'm convinced that Obamacare was a first step to socialize medicine, which is ultimately what they want. They want Medicare for all, knowing that it's not going to pay the bill, knowing it'll have an automatic increase. And if. And if it doesn't convince you just by that, look at what insurance does and doesn't cover it. If it doesn't cover Lasik eye surgery, which it does, the original for you to get Lasik eye surgery cost about $4,000 about 40 years ago. Forty years from now, we have a competitive process that's less than $1,000 per eye. With 40 years of inflation, it's become better and less expensive because it's not paid for by insurance. Now let's make a comparison to car insurance. If you use car insurance to pay your oil change, how expensive would have been if it was frozen in time? $20 for an oil change 40 years ago, how expensive would it be? Now you see the difference. If it's fixed pricing, it's going to have an automatic increase, just like we do with our mandatory spending every year. It's just going to increase because it has to, and it's not going to save any money. It's not competitive. It ruins the competitive nature of making medicine better and cheaper, which is what happens when you don't have insurance companies dictating the prices.

[Tutor Dixon]

But on the regulatory side, for example, I ask the doctors, how long do they. How much time do you actually spend talking to your patients? Patients come, Sean, when you go into your room, and you know this, and we all know this, we're going to the doctor's office, right?

[Rich McCormick]

Usually not even that much.

[Tutor Dixon]

Not even that much. Talking directly to the doctor, they said it's between. It's like 65 and 85% of the time they spend in front of a computer. Even when they're talking to their patient, you're talking to the back of his head because he's asking questions. Why? Because he's on a computer. Why? Because he's checking the boxes. He's checking all these boxes. And you're like, this is how. This is where our time.

[Beth Van Dyne]

I'm an ER doc. This is very personal to me. And what's happened is the two people that suffer the most in this whole negotiation of healthcare are, ironically, the patients and the physician. Physicians get paid 30% less. Oh, the physician suffer 30% less. Over that last two decades, when adjusted for inflation, patients by paying at least 100% more. So where's all this money going with this tremendous amount of money going to healthcare, where it's increasing way out of proportion. It's not going to the physician, it's not going to the patient. So who's making the money? The fix is in. And it's those lobbying companies for whether it be PBMs, health insurance companies, hospital systems, whoever it is, look at where the money's going, look at who's making the profit rather than who's paying the bill, and you'll know what's wrong with messages.

[Rich McCormick]

This is the dirty secret that nobody wants to talk about. But and I would love, I've taken too much of your time. I'd love to dig more into it, so I would love to have you guys back on the podcast sometime.

[Beth Van Dyne]

Awesome.

[Rich McCormick]

All right.

[Beth Van Dyne]

Awesome.

[Rich McCormick]

Thank you so much. Thank you both for being on.

[Tutor Dixon]

Thank you.

[Rich McCormick]

Thank you all for listening to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. For this podcast and others, go to tutor dixon podcast.com, the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tutor Dixon]

And join us next time. There's an efficient way to get caught up on a lot of news. It's called the seven from the Washington Post.

[Rich McCormick]

It's a newsletter and podcast.

[Tutor Dixon]

Whether you're reading or hit play, you get seven stories you need to know.

[Rich McCormick]

And you can consume it all in just a few minutes.

[Tutor Dixon]

The 7 is out every weekday morning by 7:00am Eastern. I'm Hannah Jewell, I'm one of the writers and I host the show. Find the seven Podcast wherever you're listening.

[Rich McCormick]

The newsletter link is waiting for you.

[Beth Van Dyne]

In the show Notes Deciding on what to listen to is hard. Using Xumo to stream music from iHeart 90s radio is easy. Or play I heart country or hip hop beats, your choice. All for free. Stream Easy with Zumo Play. Get live and on demand entertainment with no logins, no signups, no accounts, no hassle. This may stay in and binge American Hustle starring Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence, layer cake with Daniel Craig and Sienna Miller and Snatch with Brad Pitt. All streaming free on Zumo Play. Go to play.zumo.com now. Life is hard. Zumo is easy. The wait is almost over. Get ready for the NFL season like never before with the highly anticipated 2025 NFL Schedule release. Every rivalry, every rematch, every rookie debut, every game revealed, the dates will be set. Primetime matchup will be known. And the road to the super bowl starts here. The full NFL schedule release Wednesday, May 14th. Get all of the [e-mail] ScheduleRelease Online education is convenient, but sometimes it can be lonely.

[Tutor Dixon]

Sometimes the extra help you need can only come from someone else.

[Beth Van Dyne]

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[Tutor Dixon]

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[Beth Van Dyne]

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[Rich McCormick]

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[Beth Van Dyne]

Your path to success.

[Tutor Dixon]

APU Digital by nature, human by design.

[Rich McCormick]

Learn more at APU Apus Edu.

[Tutor Dixon]

I'm Rodney Williams.

[Beth Van Dyne]

And I'm Travis Holloway. Welcome to the wealthbreak Podcast, a real conversation about finance. Let's be honest, building weft doesn't look the same for everyone I feel like.

[Rich McCormick]

Sometimes being broke is a cycle and that we might have to revisit that and we're not stopping at success stories.

[Tutor Dixon]

What happens when it doesn't go right? How do you cope with it?

[Beth Van Dyne]

Because wealth isn't just about money. It's about creating a life where you.

[Tutor Dixon]

Thrive and help others do the same.

[Beth Van Dyne]

Listen to the Wealth Break podcast on the iHeartRadio app.

[Tutor Dixon]

You're listening to an I Heart podcast.