Fighting for access: How a rural doctor took on US Healthcare – Shannon Dowler #27

A patient who didn’t have to die: why Dr. Shannon Dowler worked
so hard on expanding Medicaid, fixing rural care, and why sex
education after 60 matters.


Dr. Shannon Dowler is a rural family physician from the
Appalachian Mountains, former Chief Medical Officer of North
Carolina Medicaid, author of Never Too Late: Your Guide to Safer
Sex After 60, and a musician who makes STI education catchy
because “STDs Never Get Old.” We discuss how personal stories
drive policy, what Medicaid expansion really changed, and why
creative, stigma-free sexual health education saves lives. We
also cover dating apps, rising STIs in older adults, and why
physician leaders should keep one foot in the clinic.


Topics we cover:


– The preventable deaths that shaped her mission


– Medicaid in North Carolina: expansion, outcomes, and new work
requirements


– Rural medicine realities: distance, disasters, and access


– Sex after 60: practical STI prevention and talking about
testing


– How humor, rap videos, and a book make important topics
approachable


Tune in for a candid, hopeful conversation at the intersection of
medicine, policy, and public health—told by someone who’s led at
the state level and still shows up for patients.


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