The Impact

The Impact is a show about how policy affects people. In Washington, the story often ends when Congress passes a law. For us, that’s where the story …

How does a Band-Aid wind up costing so much money? Why are American health care prices so incredibly high? Vox’s new podcast, the Impact, explores …

Central line infections can be deadly. And they used to be extremely common: just a decade ago, hundreds of thousands of patients got them every year. Now, that number is closer to 9,000 annually. That's still high, but …

Why are fax machines still such a staple of American health care? We talk to a pair of policy makers who hatched a plan to replace paper files and …

There's a well-known narrative about the opioid epidemic: pharmaceutical companies and dirty doctors pushed misinformation and addictive drugs on …

On this episode of The Impact, we’re looking at a possible future for pain treatment. It’s an idea known as “pain acceptance,” and in the wake of the opioid epidemic, it is gaining traction among American doctors. Music …

American women are changing up their birth control. The use of IUDs and implants has increased 6000% in the United States since 2002.  That's the …

What is the best way to care for patients with severe mental illness? The United States has struggled with this question for decades. In 1963, President Kennedy signed a law that was supposed to transfer patients with …

The United States has an astoundingly high maternal death rate. It is three times higher than the UK, eight times higher than Norway, and still climbing. But California does way better than the rest of the country. Over …

We're making season 2, and we need your help! We want to know about local policy experiments from around the country. These can be at the state, …

The Impact’s second season focuses on states and cities as laboratories of democracy. Unlike our gridlocked Congress, local governments are …

Seattle is running the country’s most radical experiment to fix campaign finance. Last year, the city sent every resident $100 that they could donate …

A decade ago, South Carolina was one of the most dangerous places in America for a baby to be born. But now, it’s taking an unconventional approach …

While the federal government is trying to deport as many immigrants as possible, Oakland, California, is running a policy experiment to help …

22% of New Yorkers are obese. In Chicago it is more than a quarter of the city. Obesity puts people at risk of diabetes, heart disease, even certain kinds of cancer. A couple of years ago, both cities decided to do …

All across the country, it seems like a given: places with more expensive houses have nicer schools because they can pay higher taxes. That’s just …

Baltimore is running a unique housing experiment that gives longtime residents vouchers to leave the city’s poorest, most violent neighborhoods for …

For decades, Memphis grew by bringing its suburbs into the city limits. City officials thought this suburb-gobbling policy would be an economic …

Denmark gives new parents nearly a year off work after they have a baby. Most of that time can be taken by either parent — but dads take barely any time at all.  That has consequences for Danish men and women at work …

Sarah Kliff returns for a farewell and a handoff to The Impact's new host, Jillian Weinberger, who has a preview of what's to come in our next season. 

If you're not already, subscribe to The Impact on Apple Podcasts, …

In this season preview, Vox’s Jillian Weinberger calls a fellow native Ohioan to discuss the perils of Swing State pride during presidential elections, and their frustration with the way election coverage casts their …

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is running for president with a plan to fight the opioid epidemic. Her legislation would dramatically expand access to …

President Gerald Ford took office during one of the most difficult times in the country’s history. In August 1974, the US had just lived through …

Two decades ago, Hans-Josef Fell quietly started a revolution in his home country, with a law that looks a lot like part of the Green New Deal …

In the early 1990s, the government of Taiwan decided to try an experiment. In just nine months, they completely revolutionized their health care …

Janet Feldman has been paying for private insurance for years. She does so even though Australia has a robust public insurance option. But when she …

Natasha Razouk wants to give her 7-year-old the best possible life. She buys big boxes of fresh tomatoes at Costco, and she gets her daughter warm …

Free college tuition seems like a solution to so many problems. After all, the price of tuition is the No. 1 reason students give for leaving school. …

Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, are known as “Ambos Nogales” — “both Nogaleses.” The city straddles the border of Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. …

In this bonus, chat episode of The Impact, Jillian is joined by Vox's Matt Yglesias and Course Correction's Nelufar Hedayat to talk about how the …

Fabiola Cineas talks with Nkechi Taifa, the founder and director of the Reparation Education Project, about the history of the fight for reparations …

Paying the price. One of the typical questions asked during conversations about reparations is how to pay for them. Fabiola talks with economist …

Why slavery? Marxist scholar Adolph Reed argues that Jim Crow — not enslavement — is the defining experience for Black Americans today. Reed recounts …

What good are piecemeal reparations? From Georgetown University, where school leadership once sold enslaved people, to Evanston, Illinois, where …