Uncared For
Lemonada Media
Roughly 42 million unpaid caregivers care for older loved ones in the United States, and that number is only rising. By 2050, older adults will represent more than 20 percent of the population. So how are we going to care for all of them? In season two of Uncared For, award-winning journalist SuChin Pak (Add to Cart, MTV News), turns the spotlight on elder care, from the medical and financial hurdles to the emotional highs and lows. Through intimate conversations with family caregivers, we’ll explore what it takes to ensure our loved ones can age with dignity. From Lemonada Media and The Co...
Bonus: Showing Up for Care in 2025
What does the upcoming Trump presidency mean for the care economy and the over 105 million family caregivers in our country? In this post-election bonus episode, caregiving expert and policy advocate Ai-jen Poo returns to tell us what challenges lay ahead for families and care workers, and how we can keep fighting for a better system that allows us to truly show up for care. This season of Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation making grants to promote an equit
Dec 6, 2024 • 33:58
Bonus: Your Health is at Stake This Election
In this special bonus episode, host SuChin Pak talks with health policy expert Julie Rovner about the most pressing health care issues on the minds of voters this election – from abortion to medical debt to long-term care. And Julie explains why, in the 38 years she’s been covering healthcare and Capitol Hill, the 2024 election is different from any other she’s seen. Find Julie Rovner’s work at kffhealthnews.org and listen to her podcast What The Health. This season of Uncared For is presented
Oct 25, 2024 • 26:14
From Partner to Caregiver
For years, Kim Moy cared for her kids and husband, while helping to care for her parents – an experience she describes as being in a “pressure cooker.” Being a caregiver to any loved one can be emotionally draining, but caring for a spouse can be a whole new level of lonely. In our final conversation of the season, Kim talks about the tradeoffs of being a spousal caregiver, grieving the loss of someone who’s still there, and how she’s learned to let go of the way things used to be. Kim Moy’s Ca
Jul 3, 2024 • 34:37
Fighting for Care
How can a family caregiver look after her loved ones and herself while navigating a broken healthcare system? Renee Hanania has been advocating for her son Branden to receive care for his disability under Medicaid, piecing together a “care village” for him and his complex needs. All the while, she’s also been battling her own health concern: stage four breast cancer. Keep up with Renee and Branden via their Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/BrandenTheBrave/. For more information about
Jun 26, 2024 • 32:04
Caring For The Caregivers
One in six Americans is over age 65, and that number is only going to climb in the next few decades. So how can we collectively prepare for this elder boom? Ai-jen Poo is president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and she thinks this is our golden opportunity to finally give caregivers their due. We hear about why we need to expand Medicaid access, improve job conditions for care workers, and see aging as a gift, not a crisis. We also talk to professional home care worker Katrina Mouzo
Jun 19, 2024 • 28:43
Stuck in the Sandwich Generation
A big chunk of family caregivers in this country are part of the “sandwich generation” – people caring for young children and aging parents at the same time. Robert Ingenito was one of them. After caring for his dad and raising his young daughter while working, Robert came to a breaking point. He decided to move his dad to an assisted living facility. It wasn’t an easy decision, and it’s one he still grapples with today. Learn more about respite care, including respite care opportunities in you
Jun 12, 2024 • 37:21
Living Long Enough to Be a Caregiver
As someone living with HIV, Vince Crisostomo couldn’t imagine aging past thirty, let alone getting old enough to care for his parents. But when the time came to look after them, Vince embraced it, especially after years of caregiving for his community during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. He helped his parents move to an assisted living center and managed their care, this time during a different global health crisis: COVID-19. Learn more about the San Francisco AIDS Foundation at their website, https:/
Jun 5, 2024 • 30:06
The Life of a Millennial Caregiver
When Jessica Guthrie became a caregiver at age 26, her life turned upside down. Her career, friendships, and love life went on the back burner as she prioritized caring for her mom, who has Alzheimer’s disease. Over nine years of caregiving, she’s faced burnout, medical racism, and the isolation of doing it all alone. But despite the challenges, Jessica finds power in the small moments she still has with her mom, and the community of Black caregivers she’s found on social media. Learn more abo
May 29, 2024 • 37:48
The Joys and the Burden of Caregiving
Poet and artist Yosimar Reyes moved home to take care of his grandmother during the pandemic. Sometimes he cries in his car from the stress and pressure of caregiving. But he also knows how lost he’d be without her. In this beautiful and honest conversation, Yosimar shares how he supports his 90-year-old grandmother – financially, mentally, and emotionally. Learn more about Yosimar Reyes on his website and follow him on Instagram @yosirey. This season of Uncared For is presented by the Commonwea
May 22, 2024 • 39:42
When Caregiving Leads to Bankruptcy
When you’re caring for an aging parent, you want the best care possible. But what does that care cost? And who pays for it? AARP’s caregiving expert Amy Goyer struggled financially to give her parents the best care possible and even ended up filing for bankruptcy. Despite this, Amy looks back on the joy of caregiving and celebrating the wins. AARP has financial and legal resources for caregivers, including ways to protect your money while caring for a loved one or friend. AARP also has informati
May 15, 2024 • 37:40
Uncared For Season 2 (Official Trailer)
Roughly 42 million Americans are caregivers for an older loved one. It's work that is exhausting, gratifying, and lonely all at once. In Season 2 of Uncared For, host SuChin Pak talks to family caregivers about how they do it - how they balance their careers, kids, navigating our healthcare system and trying to stay sane - with the challenge of caring for our elders. From Lemonada Media and The Commonwealth Fund. Coming May 15. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 8, 2024 • 2:56
Bonus: Why Millions Are Getting Kicked Off Medicaid
Why are millions of us – kids included – losing Medicaid coverage, oftentimes by accident? And how can we get it back? We’ll answer these questions with Medicaid expert Joan Alker, and hear Litha’s story – an Arkansas resident who lost coverage for five months, all while coping with life-threatening kidney failure. Resources: For research and articles from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, visit: https://ccf.georgetown.edu/. Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealth
Dec 12, 2023 • 18:34
Bonus: Care Denied
Insurance plays a big role in deciding the kind of health care we receive in this country – and how much it’ll cost us. Today, we’re speaking with ProPublica reporter Maya Miller about wrongful insurance denials and knowing your rights as a patient. Resources: Read Maya and other ProPublica reporters’ coverage of insurance denials here: UnitedHealthcare tried to deny coverage to a chronically ill patient. He fought back, exposing the insurer’s inner workings: https://www.propublica.org/articl
Nov 28, 2023 • 25:33
Bonus: A Year After Dobbs
One year after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, we sit down with two women working in the reproductive rights space to talk about what has changed, and what’s still to come. Resources: Learn more about the Roots Community Birth Center: https://www.rootsbirthcenter.com/ Read research from RHITES: https://www.rhites.org/ Looking for reproductive legal help? Check out If When How: https://www.ifwhenhow.org/ Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealt
Jun 23, 2023 • 40:03
Listen Now: Blind Plea
We’re dropping in your feed today to let you know about a gripping new series from Lemonada Media, BLIND PLEA. In 2017, Deven Grey, a young mother, shot and killed her abusive partner in a remote trailer in rural Shelby County, Alabama. She claimed self-defense and filed a Stand Your Ground claim. Instead of freedom, she was handed a “blind plea” – an option to take an unknown sentence in exchange for pleading guilty. As a Black woman who shot and killed a white man in Alabama, she did the only
May 17, 2023 • 41:04
Listen Now: Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus!
Hey listeners! We’re dropping in your feed today to give you the first full episode of Lemonada Media’s brand-new show, Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. On the premiere episode of Wiser Than Me, Julia sits down with the one and only Jane Fonda. With a career spanning over six decades, Jane – now 85 years old – hits all the highlights: staying fit at any age, fantasizing about funerals, getting heckled on set by Katharine Hepburn…and something about a fake thumb. The first two episodes of
Apr 11, 2023 • 48:00
Listen Now: Last Day is back!
We’re dropping in your feed today to let you know that Last Day is back! But we’re doing things a little differently this time around, and we want to give you a sneak peek of what’s to come. Last Day is and has always been a show about the moments that change us, fundamentally and forever. So, each week, we’ll be bringing you a new story about someone’s “last day” — who they were before, and how they’ve found a way to exist in the after. We’ll laugh. We’ll cry. We’ll share real conversations wit
Mar 29, 2023 • 6:02
Reimagining Birth
In our last episode, we return stateside to see how the Minneapolis-based Roots Community Birth Center is reimagining maternal care by prioritizing strong relationships and culturally centered care. We also learn about how midwives were once the go-to providers in American maternal care, but eventually became obsolete when doctors entered the picture. So what can we do to bring them back? And what would it take to open up a Roots in every state? Learn more about the Roots Community Birth Center
Dec 13, 2022 • 42:58
Costa Rica: By Boat, By Horse, By Bicycle
This week, we head to Costa Rica, the final destination on our maternal health “world tour,” where we explore the country’s unique community-based model of care. We’ll travel into the mountains with a community health worker to check up on a pregnant woman, and then head to the western coast, where we meet a doctor providing care to a small fishing village. Along the way, we’ll learn how the country’s healthcare reforms helped to expand access to rural areas and overcome high rates of child and
Dec 6, 2022 • 43:50
The Netherlands: Fairy Godmothers of Postpartum Care
This week, we travel east to the Netherlands. Here, midwives and “kraamzorgs,” or postnatal maternity aides, help parents during every step of the pregnancy journey. We’ll meet expecting parents trying out a new type of group-based care, hear from an American journalist about the the hands-on postpartum support she received in her own home, and meet a midwife prioritizing maternal care for undocumented immigrants. Learn more about the Amstermam midwifery practice: https://amstermam.nl/over-ons/
Nov 29, 2022 • 46:53
Germany: Where Parents Feel Supported
On our first stop in the “healthcare world tour,” we travel to Germany, where midwives are a legal right, childcare is subsidized, and parents are reimbursed for childcare costs. We’ll shadow a midwife on a home visit to newborn twins and their parents, and meet an American mom who left the U.S. to reap the German benefits. But is it too good to be true? We’ll learn what challenges midwives are up against, like a labor shortage that could upend the care they’re able to provide. Uncared For is p
Nov 22, 2022 • 45:14
Who Gets A Choice?
Is abortion care healthcare? In the United States, the answer to that question depends entirely on your ZIP code. In this episode, we’ll hear from two women, one in Texas and the other in New York, both working against the clock to access an abortion. How do abortion restrictions impact pregnant people’s healthcare? What does it mean to be treated with dignity and compassion? And what is at stake for pregnant people and medical providers in this country? Uncared For is presented by the Common
Nov 15, 2022 • 45:09
America the Outlier
The maternal mortality rate in the United States is more than double that of our peers – and it’s especially high among Black birthing people. In the first episode of Uncared For, we’ll hear from health equity researchers, birth providers – like the postpartum doula who was there for SuChin – and Black mothers who have been dismissed and misdiagnosed in our broken system of care. How did our system end up like this? And what does this crisis tell us about how our healthcare system stacks up glob
Nov 15, 2022 • 47:07