Two Planes Are Off The Radar

Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat becomes the final battle ground for healthcare reform – and the focus of Americans’ outrage on the issue. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney must reckon with his own record as he begins his run for President. ---------------------------Have a question for the Big Dig team? Submit it here by December 31, 2026, and it might get featured in an upcoming episode.Credits:Host and Scriptwriter: Ian CossExecutive Producer: Devin Maverick RobinsProducers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian CossStory Editor: Lacy RobertsEditorial Advisor: Azita GhahramaniFact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel HibbardScoring and Music Supervision: Ian CossGraphic Design: Bill Miller

In 2009, the moment for national healthcare reform has arrived, and there is hope that just like in Massachusetts, the effort can be bipartisan. But as negotiations begin in Washington, the politics outside the capital are shifting fast. ---------------------Have a question for the Big Dig team? Submit it here by December 31, 2026, and it might get featured in an upcoming episode.Credits:Host and Scriptwriter: Ian CossExecutive Producer: Devin Maverick RobinsProducers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian CossStory Editor: Lacy RobertsEditorial Advisor: Azita GhahramaniFact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel HibbardScoring and Music Supervision: Ian CossGraphic Design: Bill Miller

Immediately ‘Romneycare’ becomes the template for national healthcare reform. And while Democrats are focused on replicating the successes of the plan, there are already cracks showing in the coalition that came together to pass it.---------------------------Have a question for the Big Dig team? Submit it here by December 31, 2026, and it might get featured in an upcoming episode.Credits:Host and Scriptwriter: Ian CossExecutive Producer: Devin Maverick RobinsProducers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian CossStory Editor: Lacy RobertsEditorial Advisor: Azita GhahramaniFact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel HibbardScoring and Music Supervision: Ian CossGraphic Design: Bill Miller

Time is running out for Massachusetts to pass healthcare reform. The bill’s fate now rests with the two old friends who run the state legislature and control everything that happens there. Unfortunately, these old friends have stopped talking. ---------------------------Have a question for the Big Dig team? Submit it here by December 31, 2026, and it might get featured in an upcoming episode.Credits:Host and Scriptwriter: Ian CossExecutive Producer: Devin Maverick RobinsProducers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian CossStory Editor: Lacy RobertsEditorial Advisor: Azita GhahramaniFact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel HibbardScoring and Music Supervision: Ian CossGraphic Design: Bill Miller

The controversial centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act – the requirement for all Americans to purchase health insurance – began its strange political journey at the conservative Heritage Foundation. In deep blue Massachusetts the mandate was considered a fringe idea, until it lands on Governor Romney’s desk. ---------------------------Credits:Host and Scriptwriter: Ian CossExecutive Producer: Devin Maverick RobinsProducers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian CossStory Editor: Lacy RobertsEditorial Advisor: Azita GhahramaniFact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel HibbardScoring and Music Supervision: Ian CossGraphic Design: Bill Miller

After their bruising senate campaign, Kennedy and Romney reunite for a mission to lobby the Bush administration. At stake: more than a billion dollars of federal money that is propping up the state’s entire healthcare system. ---------------------------Have a question for the Big Dig team? Submit it here by December 31, 2026, and it might get featured in an upcoming episode.Credits:Host and Scriptwriter: Ian CossExecutive Producer: Devin Maverick RobinsProducers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian CossStory Editor: Lacy RobertsEditorial Advisor: Azita GhahramaniFact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel HibbardScoring and Music Supervision: Ian CossGraphic Design: Bill Miller

In the midst of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon reaches out to his rival Ted Kennedy and offers him a deal – a one time chance to reshape American healthcare, which might also save Nixon’s doomed presidency. Will the young senator take the deal?---------------------------Have a question for the Big Dig team? Submit it here by December 31, 2026, and it might get featured in an upcoming episode.Credits:Host and Scriptwriter: Ian CossExecutive Producer: Devin Maverick RobinsProducers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian CossStory Editor: Lacy RobertsEditorial Advisor: Azita GhahramaniFact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel HibbardScoring and Music Supervision: Ian CossGraphic Design: Bill Miller

Mitt Romney’s first political campaign was not for president or governor; it was for the U.S. Senate, and it was against Ted Kennedy. Early on the challenger looks unstoppable – handsome, eloquent, moderate – then the Kennedy camp starts digging into Romney’s past. Special thanks to FRONTLINE for archival sound from The Long March of Newt Gingrich & The Health Care Gamble. ---------------------------Have a question for the Big Dig team? Submit it here by December 31, 2026, and it might get featured in an upcoming episode.Credits:Host and Scriptwriter: Ian CossExecutive Producer: Devin Maverick RobinsProducers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian CossStory Editor: Lacy RobertsEditorial Advisor: Azita GhahramaniFact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel HibbardScoring and Music Supervision: Ian CossGraphic Design: Bill Miller

Healthcare is the problem American politics cannot solve. It’s the subject of screaming matches at town halls, the cause of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, the justification for political assassination in cold blood. But how did our most basic need become such a divisive issue?In Season Four of The Big Dig podcast, "Mitt & Ted", we tell the origin story of national healthcare reform. Mitt Romney and Ted Kennedy began their political journeys on opposite sides of the issue, and they ended once again on opposite sides, but for a brief period in the middle they worked together to pass a groundbreaking law – one that promised to finally transform the politics of American healthcare – the law known as Romneycare. So, what brought this odd couple together and what ultimately pulled them apart?For early access to episodes, join The Big Dig membership program. Learn more at wgbh.org/hovlane. ---------------------------Credits:Host and Scriptwriter: Ian CossExecutive Producer: Devin Maverick RobinsProducers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian CossStory Editor: Lacy RobertsEditorial Advisor: Azita GhahramaniFact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel HibbardScoring and Music Supervision: Ian CossGraphic Design: Bill Miller

September 11th changed the world forever; but in particular, it changed airports. In this special episode of The Big Dig, we go inside the world of Logan Airport – the place where the 9/11 attacks began – to tell the story of how that day unfolded, and how it transformed everything from security screening and terminal design, to restaurants, lounges, and luxury boutiques.