No, it's not a typo! On this holiday bonus episode of the Weeds, we're bringing you an episode of The Impact, Sarah Kliff's podcast about how policy affects real lives.
In this episode, we tackle the question: 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 fax machines with electronic medical records. We explain why that plan backfired. And we go into clinics to understand why the fax's continued use isn't just annoying, but also sometimes harmful for patients' health.
Subscribe to The Impact on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Overcast or wherever you get your podcasts! You can send us feedback at
impact@vox.com, and for even more fax facts, check out Sarah's text version of this story.