Podcast episode 9: Matt All

Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast.

Here, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders working to improve health. We bring you guests from our state, from our nation and from your backyard to tell their stories of how they broke new ground and changed the landscape of health care.

In episode nine, we interview Matt All.

Matt is the president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (BCBSKS), the state’s largest and only locally owned health insurance provider. As a mutually owned, not-for-profit health plan, BCBSKS serves nearly one million members with the state’s largest provider network.

In his role, he is working to make BCBSKS a vibrant, robust, progressive force for good in Kansas. He is committed to giving Kansans a better, more humane experience in the health care system, and to making high-quality care accessible and affordable in every Kansas community.

Some of Matt’s most significant accomplishments include the implementation and preparation of the Affordable Care Act. He also led the company’s Health Care Reform Guidance Team and represented the company on the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s Health Care Reform Implementation Task Force. Most recently, he led the company and its members through navigating the health care system during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this episode, Matt discusses a variety of challenges facing the current health system and how his team is working to address them.

“It just should not be the case in the United States of America, the richest country in the world, in 2024, that there are such deep inequities, especially when it comes to things like maternal health,” he said.

Matt also discussed artificial intelligence and its emerging role in health care. He said AI is a valuable tool but that he’s concerned about how quickly it’s evolving and wants to make sure it does more good than harm.

“It’s a wonderful invention, and it’s progressing incredibly rapidly,” he said. “But it needs to be used to help people live healthier lives, and so having a human in there making decisions with a good kind of ethical backbone I think is going to be important as we move forward.”

Other topics discussed include:

His journey from a small town in Kansas to Yale Law School to health care

The challenge of affordability in health care

How BCBSKS works to address the social determinants of health, including Pathways to a Healthy Kansas, a community grant initiative funded by BCBS

The goal to establish BCBSKS as a leader in behavioral health

Strengthening health care access in rural communities

Medicaid expansion

Telehealth

And much more! Listen now, and learn more about Matt’s efforts and how he is a pioneering leader in health care.