Is it possible for a health care company to make enough people mad about their billing practices that it hurts their business? For one genetic testing company, maybe so. An Arm and a Leg listener Jessica got a test that’s become routine in early pregnancy: non-invasive prenatal testing. It was supposed to be $99. But then — after she took the test — that turned into $250. And when she asked questions, she was told it could go up to $800 if she didn’t pay up quick. , Jessica looked up the testing...
Jul 28, 2022•18 min•Season 7Ep. 9
Thomas Fisher is an emergency room doc in Chicago. His book, The Emergency , is an up-close chronicle of the COVID pandemic’s first year in his South Side ER. It also zooms out to tell the story of his journey as a doctor: How his upbringing on the South Side fueled his desire to become a doctor. And how the realities and inequities of American health care limited his ability to help. He details how the failures of the American health care system — and the racial inequities it perpetuates — leav...
Jul 07, 2022•21 min•Season 7Ep. 7
About a third of ER doctors now work for companies backed by private equity. A lot of those docs do not like the arrangement, which they say puts profits ahead of patients. Now, a group of ER docs are suing to kick one of those private-equity owned companies out of their hospital-- and all of California. They see it as the first step in a long, long fight. The suit cites California’s ban on the “corporate practice of medicine” — which is supposed to outlaw situations where non-doctors tell docto...
Jun 16, 2022•22 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Credit reporting bureaus announced in April that they would start taking most medical debt off of people’s credit reports. At first, we weren’t sure that would be such a huge deal. After all, the medical debt would still exist, people would still get harassed by debt collectors, or even sued over it. But it turns out, there’s a bunch of reasons why these changes could be life-changing, and we want to give credit (the good kind) where it’s due. The changes include: Paid-off medical debt disappear...
May 26, 2022•18 min•Season 7Ep. 6
A new golden age is dawning, and it starts where the sun don’t shine. A listener got a pricey quote for her colonoscopy, but the medical practice behind it seems like “the only game in town.” We scope it out and learn the surprising reason why: Investors have decided your butt is a goldmine. Private equity investors have made their way into many areas of our lives. Now, they’re at the gastroenterologist’s —and lots of other medical specialists, too. We learned why these doctors are selling their...
May 05, 2022•20 min•Season 7Ep. 5
Dan’s COVID has hung on there for a while, kept him SUPER tired. Yoinks. Back in a couple weeks! Meanwhile, as always, we'd love for you to: Get in touch to share a story or your thoughts. Subscribe to First Aid Kit , our newsletter about how to survive the health-care system Support us : Your donations are this show's biggest source of income. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Apr 21, 2022•59 sec•Season 7Ep. 4
Hey there — I got COVID a little before we were scheduled to tape this week's episode. Whoops! I'm fine now, but kinda tired. Just to be on the safe side — some people stay tired for a while — let's give me two weeks before we come back with a full episode. Meanwhile, I'll share this: I think one reason I got better quick was, I was able to get anti-viral meds. (Paxlovid, in my case.) And I mention this because: There's a new variant going around, BA.2, which looks like it's going to bring on a ...
Apr 07, 2022•2 min•Season 7Ep. 3
It’s illegal to advise someone who’s being sued for medical debt, unless you're a lawyer. Yep, really. Even in its most basic form (like helping people fill out a checklist) it’s considered the “unlicensed practice of law.” And it’s a crime. As in, you could go to jail. So some New Yorkers are suing to get that changed. The non-profit Upsolve wants to help people represent themselves in court when they’re being sued over debt. Their plan is to train people like pastors, social workers, and libra...
Mar 24, 2022•19 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Pharma and insurance companies play devious, clever games, competing for dollars. They’re sharks! It’d be fun to track, but they’re eating us alive. If anyone could beat the sharks at this game, we’d pick Lillian Karabaic , who runs the personal finance show/community called Oh My Dollar! — and is SUPER on-top-of her stuff. But Lillian recently got socked with an unexpected $3,000 charge— and expects to lose her very-organized fight against it. Understanding how Lillian got here — how pretty muc...
Mar 10, 2022•26 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Last year we brought you the story — part caper, part tragedy — of how Philadelphia tried to hand off its COVID vaccination program to a wannabe tech bro right out of college. We built on the work of reporter Nina Feldman and her colleagues at WHYY. Now, they've laid out the entire thing in a podcast of their own, called Half Vaxxed . It’s terrific. Funny in places, horrifying in others, and full of lessons. We'll be back in a few weeks to start the next batch of Arm and a Leg episodes. Meanwhil...
Feb 24, 2022•25 min•Season 6Ep. 15
Stephanie Wittels Wachs has made the show about a topic that's actually too enraging, terrifying, and depressing for An Arm and a Leg : the opioid crisis. And it's as entertaining, empowering and useful as we could ever want. It's called Last Day . Here's episode 1. (In case you need convincing that it's entertaining, we'll tell you: In this episode, she interviews comedians Sarah Silverman and Aziz Ansari at length.) Part of what makes Last Day so good is that Stephanie is a great storyteller —...
Feb 10, 2022•41 min•Season 6Ep. 14
The No Surprises Act — a new law that protects us from some outrageous out-of-network hospital bills — takes effect this month. That's great news, but (and there’s always a but) there are some important caveats to know about. Like, for instance: these protections only apply to care you get in a hospital. Then there’s the deceptively-named Surprise Billing Protection form they might ask you to sign. And there’s more. We break down what you need to know about your rights under this new law, what t...
Jan 27, 2022•18 min•Season 6Ep. 13
COVID testing—the kind they send to a lab— is supposed to be free in the U.S. But it’s never been quite that simple. We’re revisiting our sadly-still-relevant interview with Sarah Kliff from the New York Times , who joined us in November 2020 to share what she learned from reading hundreds of COVID testing bills. Her advice ? Avoid the ER, do some research ahead of time, and ask if they’re going to do any other tests (which may not be covered 100%). We summed up some of her advice in a recent Fi...
Jan 13, 2022•23 min•Season 6Ep. 12
An Arm and a Leg wraps up a big year, and some of the team takes a moment to reflect. Consulting Managing Producer Daisy Rosario, Editor Marian Wang, and Associate Producer Emily Pisacreta join host Dan Weissmann in a conversation on why we make the show and what we look forward to doing in 2022. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 30, 2021•15 min•Season 6Ep. 11
Who’s making a buck: rapid test edition. Rapid, at-home COVID tests are pretty much essential if you want to see friends and family this holiday season, and stay safe. But they’re freaking expensive and can be hard to find. What the heck happened? When ProPublica reporter Eric Umansky went looking for COVID tests recently, he came back empty handed. He and fellow reporter Lydia DePillis investigated, tracing the US’s rapid testing problem all the way back to the FDA and other government agencies...
Dec 20, 2021•21 min•Season 6Ep. 10
Health insurance is like some medieval horror, says law professor Jackie Fox. But, funny thing: She also says insurance fights are easy. For her. She’s been helping people win them for 30 years. Jackie Fox has a lot to teach us. And class is in session. Here’s a transcript of the episode . Send your stories and questions : https://armandalegshow.com/contact/ or call 724 ARM-N-LEG And of course we’d love for you to support this show . This month, every dollar you donate is DOUBLED, thanks to News...
Dec 09, 2021•19 min•Season 6Ep. 9
We kick off with a wild ride: How one journalist almost got roped into a scam. While hunting for a new insurance plan, Mitra Kaboli got an offer that seemed too good to be true—but seemed to be coming from her current insurer. Mitra was skeptical, and it turns out, she had every reason to be. Dania Palanker from Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms unpacks this sketchy scheme, and gives us the key to avoiding it: When you're searching for health insurance... skip Google. Se...
Nov 24, 2021•25 min
When Mattew Lientz needed surgery to save his life, his insurance wouldn’t cover it. Enter: Laurie Todd, the Insurance Warrior. Her first task: Figuring out who Matthew was really fighting, and how big the battle really was. Together, Matthew, his wife Diane, and Laurie made the case for Matthew’s life. Fourteen years later, the speeches they gave in a conference room full of insurance executives are a masterclass in winning insurance appeals — and living to tell the tale. The battle also illust...
Nov 11, 2021•24 min•Season 6Ep. 7
In 2005, Laurie Todd needed surgery to save her life. Her insurance company had no intention of paying for it. She went to war, and won. She's been helping other do the same ever since. Now, she's sharing her secrets with us. Psst: This month, when you support this show , every dollar you donate is DOUBLED, thanks to NewsMatch and the Institute for Nonprofit News. Holy cow. Here's the link . Also: Here’s a transcript for the episode . Send your stories and questions : https://armandalegshow.com/...
Nov 01, 2021•24 min•Season 6Ep. 6
Yup. A Stanford professor measured it. So… we should probably learn how they actually make money, understand their incentives. Here’s one clue: A lot of the time, providing insurance isn’t their real job. In this episode, we unpack what that means, and we start exploring how to put that knowledge to work. Here’s a transcript for this episode: https://armandalegshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/12-Million-Hours-An-Arm-and-a-Leg-Transcript-S6-Ep05-12.pdf Send your stories and questions: https://...
Oct 14, 2021•20 min•Season 6Ep. 5
Hospitals in Maryland were suing patients over bills that should’ve been forgiven. It wasn’t illegal. Until now. How a coalition changed that. This year. Plus, our friends at Dollar For build their bill-crushing army, one Zoom training at a time. Need help applying for charity care for you or a loved one? We compiled a list of five helpful tips. Here's the transcript for this episode . Send your stories and questions : https://armandalegshow.com/contact/ or call 724 ARM-N-LEG And of course we'd ...
Sep 30, 2021•27 min•Season 6Ep. 4
Manny Lanza died because he didn't have insurance. His parents fought back, with help from New York’s favorite tabloid. After years of work by advocates and organizers, laws suddenly changed. Here’s how. Here's a transcript for this episode . Send your stories and questions : https://armandalegshow.com/contact/ or call 724 ARM-N-LEG And of course we'd love for you to support this show . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Sep 16, 2021•26 min•Season 6Ep. 3
How one Republican senator made sure the ACA required non-profit hospitals to act more like charities—and less like loan sharks—before voting against the whole thing. The national requirement to offer charity care emerged from the Obama White House’s failed courtship of GOP Senator Chuck Grassley. We hear how that failed courtship almost tanked the ACA— and how the battle over the ACA “broke America”—from former Obama adviser David Axelrod, longtime reporter Julie Rovner and a top Grassley aide....
Sep 02, 2021•26 min•Season 6Ep. 6
The lawyer was Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, the lawyer who beat Big Tobacco in the 1990s. Later, he launched a series of ill-fated national lawsuits aimed at getting non-profit hospitals to quit price-gouging low-income patients, and chasing them hard for payment. It... didn't go as well as the tobacco lawsuit, by a long shot. Scruggs did help start something that ended up making real change. For instance: We’ve been following the work of Jared Walker, who went super-viral on TikTok, spreading the ...
Aug 19, 2021•23 min•Season 6Ep. 1
We’ve been on a hiatus for a minute, and we are SO excited about what we’re coming back with. These are stories we’ve been collecting for months—some of them for more than a year—and they’re big. One of them turns out to be about how change actually happens. Which for a show about the cost of health care—one that promises (and we do) to be entertaining, empowering, and useful—change is important. And, as horrible as things are right now, we’ve been learning: some things used to be worse. For ins...
Aug 05, 2021•3 min
An update on Jared Walker, whose viral TikTok described a little-known (and effective) method to “crush” many hospital bills, and offered to help folks deploy it. Since then, he's been responding to thousands of requests for help—and building a system to respond more effectively, thanks to a small army of whip-smart volunteers. Jared’s non-profit, Dollar For , has got that system up and running. So: If anyone you know has a hospital bill they can’t pay, the system can quickly tell them if they m...
Jul 15, 2021•11 min•Season 5Ep. 11
For years, at ProPublica, Marshall Allen has been exposing health care grifters. (He’s our kind of guy.) Now, he's written a book … about how to fight back. It’s called “Never Pay the First Bill.” We talked—about some of his best tips, about how you can’t win ‘em all, and about why it’s worth learning all you can and giving it your best shot. Marshall compares the U.S. health-care "system" to the bully he faced in 7th grade. Big, stupid, mean. And SOMETIMES—as he learned in junior high--you can ...
Jun 30, 2021•19 min•Season 5Ep. 10
Health care insiders get stupid medical bills too. One of them taught us how to write an insurance appeal—like the one that saved her son $14,000. You can read that letter—and her notes to us about why she chose to include certain words and key facts—right here: https://armandalegshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Appeal_letter_2020_redacted_with_comments.pdf We met Jeannine after our host addressed a conference of “industry insiders.” It wasn’t much fun. But this makes it all worthwhile. Links...
Jun 09, 2021•13 min•Season 5Ep. 9
When Adam Woodrum's insurance denied a claim for an ER bill, he sent his story to NPR... because he happened to KNOW how to deal with it. And he figured it would be a friendly thing to share what he knew. (Kudos, Adam!) This story was originally reported by Julie Appleby for our pals at Kaiser Health News, and KHN editor-in-chief Elisabeth Rosenthal weighs in at the end. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
May 19, 2021•7 min•Season 5Ep. 8
How hard is it to pick the best health insurance? ECONOMISTS find it hard. Including one who has studied the question, "How hard can it be to pick a decent insurance plan?" Lots of people are suddenly eligible to pick possibly-cheaper health insurance thanks to the American Rescue Plan—the big stimulus bill Congress passed in March—so we thought it could be useful to bring this 2018 story back. Also useful: This essay from health-care reporter Zachary Tracer about how he picked his health insura...
Apr 28, 2021•20 min•Season 5Ep. 7