Health:Further 179 - Anthropic vs The Pentagon | The AI Showdown That Could Reshape Government Technology
Vic and Marcus unpack a chaotic week across AI, markets, healthcare, and crypto. They begin with a viral Substack post outlining a “2028 Global Intelligence Crisis” that triggered market volatility and reignited debate over mass white-collar job displacement. They examine Block’s decision to cut more than 40% of its workforce amid AI-driven efficiency gains and debate whether entrepreneurship will replace traditional employment. The conversation moves through new AI startups transforming medtech sales and credentialing, automation in healthcare front offices and pathology, and escalating Medicaid and ACA policy shifts that could impact deductibles and medical debt. They discuss ongoing GLP-1 coverage battles, pharma competition between Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, and enforcement actions against payer ghost networks. The episode also covers stablecoin growth, Coinbase’s expansion into U.S. stock trading, and the rise of agent-to-agent AI payments. They close with a high-stakes clash between the Trump administration and Anthropic over military AI use, exploring brand integrity, national security, and the future relationship between AI companies and the federal government.
Links
Story #1 AI Fears Shake Market
1:25 - THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS Substack
7:32 - Jack’s announcement X
Story #2 VC Deals
13:57 - MedScout Raises $10M and Launches AI Agents for MedTech Commercial Teams Healthcare Dive
15:24 - Altman-backed startup Verifiable rolls out AI agent to automate credentialing Fierce Healthca
17:24 - Third Way Health raises $15M for front-office AI Axios
18:12 - Coral Care Raises $13M to Scale In-Home Pediatric Therapy MedCity
Story #3 Feds Pause $ for MN
18:49 - Vance Announces Pause of Nearly $260 Million in Minnesota Medicaid Funding WSJ
22:54 - CMS unveils new initiatives aimed at cracking down on healthcare fraud Fierce Healthcare
Story #4 Health costs Rise & State Law Changes
24:27 - New A.C.A. Plans Could Increase Family Deductibles to $31,000 NYT
25:26 - State lawmakers seek restraints on wage garnishment for medical debt Fierce Healthcare
Story #5 Payer Legal Fights
28:00 - Worker did not plausibly argue obesity was a disability, 1st Circuit finds Healthcare Dive
30:44 - New York secures more than $2.5 million from EmblemHealth over ghost networks Healthcare Finance
Story #6 Novo Turn aournd or not?
31:29 - Novo Nordisk Shares Plunge After Obesity Drug Fails to Beat Zepbound WSJ
32:32 - Eli Lilly’s Zepbound Gets FDA OK for Multi-Dose Pen WSJ
Story #7 Web3 Wakes up
33:51 - Circle Internet’s Quarterly Profit Surges on Stablecoin Demand WSJ
36:50 - Coinbase Pursues ‘Everything Exchange’ Concept With US Stock Trading Debut PYMNTS
Story #8 Health AI expansions
41:21 - Labcorp expands PathAI pact to roll out digital pathology platform in US Healthcare Dive
Story #9 Anthroopic
42:20 - Hegseth gives Anthropic until Friday to back down on AI safeguards, Axios
44:19 - Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War Website