Episodes

S12-09_Cincinati-redux — Revisiting ‘Christmas In July’
From the archives: a family tragedy, a 40-year tradition, and a $1 million in medical debt erased.

White and yellow text on green background: Pushing forward and "getting feisty" in the fight against medical debt. — New lessons from the fight for charity care
Checking back in on the fight for hospital charity care, with lessons from Dollar For and you.

Yellow and white text on green background that reads: "I hate insurance companies," says tech worker Holden Karau. So she made a bot to battle with them. — Fight health insurance — with help from AI
A new tool helps fight back against health insurance denials, by writing appeal letters with AI.

Copy of S12-Ep04_facility-fees-2 — Can racism make you sick?
Violence, silences, and public health, with journalist Cara Anthony.

White and yellow text on green background that reads: "Can states limit tacked-on facility fees? We are making baby steps." — “Baby steps” in the fight against facility fees
Some states are trying to limit tacked-on facility fees.

Text on green background: "I was like, it's my fight. I've got gasoline in the fire. I'm going for it." - Caitlyn Mai, who stared down a $139K bill, and won. — Don’t get “bullied” into paying what you don’t owe
How one woman stared down a six-figure medical bill and won.

S12_E2_Charity-Care-Callout — We want to see your hospital bills
Gotten a hospital bill in the past year? We want to see your bills

S12-Ep01_Facility-fees — The woman who beat an $8,000 hospital fee
Facility fees are becoming more common – and one woman was determined not to pay.

White and yellow text on green background: How middlemen drive up medical bills: they cut back your insurance coverage and take a big cut themselves. — Meet the Middleman’s Middleman
Way behind the scenes, a hidden player makes billions — cutting what your health insurance covers. Meet MultiPlan.

S11E07_Medicaid — Staying on Medicaid seems tougher than it should be
States were blocked from their annual Medicaid re-enrollment during the COVID health emergency. Now they’re catching up and taking away coverage for millions.

Text: Have you ever been charged a facility fee from the doctor's office? We want to hear from you. — We’re digging into “facility fees.” We need your help.
Why we’re collecting your stories about these sneaky fees.

S11E05_Change-hack — The Hack
A cyberattack against a health care giant gets us thinking about antitrust: The idea that companies this big can be dangerous, and what we can maybe do about it.

Yellow text in horror movie font "Son of Medicare: Attack of the Machine." Text in white: In Medicare Advantage, some plans used an algorithm to call the shots. — Son of Medicare: Attack of the Machines
How UnitedHealth used an algorithm to cut off care for seniors in Medicare Advantage plans.

_S11E03_Medicare — The Medicare Episode
When you turn 65 you have a high stakes decision to make: original Medicare or Medicare Advantage. And what you choose has major implications down the line. We break it down.

Image text: Is insulin cheaper now? We break it down. Background image: insulin pens. — Wait, is insulin cheaper now?
We break down some news about insulin — the so-called “poster child” for the high cost of prescription drugs — and what activists still want to see happen.

White and yellow text on green background that reads "How to keep your cool while fighting with the health care system, according to a self defense coach — Self defense 101: Keeping your cool while you fight
Maybe our most useful episode ever: A self defense expert gives us tips for keeping it together when dealing with the health care industrial complex.

Text: One last tip before 2024 (Pass it on) Image (semi-transparent, behind text): A hand with a pencil, writing a note. — One last tip before 2024
What some hospitals may not tell you about charity care.

White text on a green background that reads "When hospitals sue patients. Part two: what if they stopped?". Background is green-hued photogaph of a hospital hallway. — When hospitals sue patients, part 2
Part two of our story with Scripps News and the Baltimore Banner: In some states, hospital lawsuits have dropped dramatically.

Green background with photo depicting hospital exterior. White text that reads "When hospitals sue patients. Part one: what are they doing this for?" — When hospitals sue patients, part 1
We investigate why hospitals sue patients over unpaid medical bills, with Scripps News and the Baltimore Banner.

White and yellow text on green background that reads "to get health insurance they made a movie...Ellen needs insurance. It's pretty funny." A photograph of a blonde white woman in a black dress sitting next to a white man in a blue shirt. They are sitting on a porch overlooking the Hollywood hills. — To qualify for health insurance, this couple made a movie
To qualify for health insurance, Ellen Haun and Dru Johnston made a movie about health insurance. It’s called “Ellen Needs Insurance.”

S10_Ep05_Luke Messac Book — “Your Money or Your Life”: Dr. Luke Messac’s book on the history of medical debt
Luke Messac’s new book, “Your Money or Your Life,” traces the history of debt collection in American medicine. He’s a doctor and a Ph.D. historian.

S10_Ep04_Paging Dr G — Paging Dr. Glaucomflecken (via the Nocturnists)
As Dr. Glaucomflecken, Will Flanary’s punchy and funny videos on our awful health care system have made him a fan favorite. Our pals at The Nocturnists got a chat.

Yellow and white text on green background: the fault in our patents part 2. John Green versus Johnson and Johnson. *and global activists *and drug patent games. — John Green vs. Johnson & Johnson (part 2)
Part two of our globe-spanning story about drugs, patents, and YouTube megastar John Green.

John Green vs. Johnson & Johnson (part 1)

Writer John Green rallied his fans around a fight over the cost of a tuberculosis drug. And: the story shows why so many drugs cost so f-ing much.

White and yellow text on green background that reads "Why ambulance bills are so random. And why the No Surprises Act doesn't help." — How to Get a Surprise Bill on Your Way to the Hospital
Ambulance rides are one of the most common sources of surprise medical bills. So why did Congress leave them out of the No Surprises Act?

S9_Ep9_Credit-card-please — Wait, what’s a PBM (and how do they work)?
If you've been told your insurance won't cover your meds, you've met a PBM: a pharmacy benefits manager. And experts say they play a big role in jacking up drug prices overall. But how, exactly? We took a deep dive.

_S9_Ep08_Credit-card-please — Credit Card, Please
A listener's doctor wanted her credit card info up front , before her appointment. She wondered: Do I need to give it to them? We did too.

Screenshot of a tweet from Alex Shteynshluyger MD that reads "Optum is now running a Payday loan business targeting medical practices to which UHC fails to issue timely payments, denies + delays. Genius!" White text on green background reads "We checked this out and learned about a 'behemoth.'" — A ‘payday loan’ from a health care behemoth
What does it mean when a single company runs the most U.S. health insurance plans, owns a network employing more doctors than anyone else, and starts to get into the business of loaning money to doctors? Get to know UnitedHealth Group: the Behemoth.

White and yellow text on a green background that reads "'It's become a bit of my superpower to help friends find an in-network therapist.' - Abigail Burman. Here's how she does it." — Mental health ‘ghost networks’ — and a ghost-buster
Trying to find a therapist can be a horror story. It's also a ghost story , as in "ghost networks": lists of therapists your insurance says are in-network, but *poof* they're not.

Now, meet a volunteer Ghost-buster.

A $229,000 medical bill goes to court

Before surgery, a hospital told Lisa French she'd owe $1,337. After insurance paid them , more than they'd expected , the hospital billed her $229K. And sued her for it. Colorado's Supreme Court decided the case last year. The ruling has big implications.

White text on green background that reads "''You start to see this model, and it makes you think: Can things be different in health care?' - Dr. Ricardo Nuila." The right side of the image features the cover of Ricardo Nuila's book, entitled The People's Hospital. — A doctor’s love letter to ‘the People’s Hospital’
What if we had a decent, publicly-funded health system , available to everybody, with or without insurance? We've got one, says Dr. Ricardo Nuila. It's where he works. And he thinks we could have itall over. Yes, really.

White and yellow text on green background that says "OK, we can't win 'em all. But there's a lot to learn from the attempt. One listener shares." — Lessons from “wrestling with a giant”
The ER visit was brief and uneventful. The bill was $1,339. Our listener decided to push back. He didn't win, but he learned a lot , and so did we.

White and yellow words on green background. "There's just so little to lose, and so much to gain, by calling these medical institutions out for what they're doing wrong. - Lauren, who sued a hospital in small claims court." — The bill looked like BS. So she took it to small claims court.
A listener wrote: "I sued a hospital in small claims court." She lost, but felt like she'd won , and learned a ton. Now she wants to encourage more people to try it.

Yellow text on green background that reads "Can They Freaking DO that?! Sometimes. And sometimes we can fight back. 2023 Edition" — Can They Freaking Do That?!? (2023 Edition)
Can a random medical provider send you an outrageously random bill? Sure. Can you fight back and win sometimes? Yes. Yes, sometimes you can. It might even be fun.

Yellow and white text on green background. Text reads "the Arm and a Leg team looks back on 2022... and how the stories we cover played out in our own lives." — 2022 in Review
The Arm and a Leg team looks back on 2022.

Yellow text on green background. "This was my introduction to health care. Golly. It was way too much at one time." - Susan Rice." — Like Pulling Teeth
Health insurance usually doesn't cover dental work. It's as if teeth aren't part of our bodies. But when a car hit Susan and knocked out half her teeth, that WAS supposed to be covered. So why has her insurer batted her away?

_S8_Ep6_Youtube-insurance — Is this the best video on health insurance ever?
Listeners told us: 'you gotta watch this video from Brian David Gilbert about health insurance. You're going to love it.' And we did. Then, we got Brian to fill us in on the whole story behind it.

Yellow text on green background that reads ""A lot of people were already in the situation that now we, as a country, are grappling with." - Tyler Barbarin, New Orleans Abortion Fund — Insurance in a post-Roe world, and a grassroots network of abortion funds
The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade put some people's health insurance into flux. But accessing abortion was already hard for lots of people. That's where abortion funds step in.

_S8_Ep4_Insurance — A listener asks: Could NOT having insurance be a better deal?
Open enrollment for health insurance is here. A listener asks: "Should my son even sign up for insurance? I may have found a better deal."

S8_Ep2_California-Insulin — California plans to make its own insulin and sell it super-cheap. Really.
Lots of seniors have to pay thousands of dollars for drugs,even tens of thousands,or do without life-saving medicine. That's finally going to change.

Photo of Vanderbilt U health-policy professor Stacie Dusetzina, with the quote: "The idea that you could have such poor coverage was just kind of staggering." — Congress fixed (a piece of) Medicare. It only took a few decades.
Lots of seniors have to pay thousands of dollars for drugs,even tens of thousands,or do without life-saving medicine. That's finally going to change.

Yellow and white text on green background that reads "Negotiating medical bills can workbut it can be uncertain, scary. What if there were a science to it?" Stock art depicts laptop computer with arrayed on top of keyboard, spelling S.O.S. — The Medical Bill “Negotiation Lab”
It's often possible to negotiate medical billsbut not always easy. Could we get it down to a science? The folks at the nonprofit Dollar For are running a big experiment. We got to visit the lab.

Yellow and white text on a green background. Text reads: "Can a company's billing practices get enough people mad enough that the company pays a price?" A photograph in the bottom right of the frame depicts blood tests. — The Genetic Testing ‘Bait-and-Switch’
Can a health care company make enough people mad to faceactual consequences? In this case, maybe yes.

S7-Ep7_The-Emergency — One ER Doc’s Journey Through the Pandemic , and the Health Care System
Dr. Thomas Fisher's book 'The Emergency' chronicles the COVID pandemic's first year in his Chicago ER. It's a grieving love letter to his patients and his community.

Private equity might run your local emergency room. Meet the docs suing to kick them out. — These docs are trying to kick private equity out of their ER
Emergency rooms all over the country are staffed by private equity-backed companies that doctors say put profits before patients. Now a group of docs is suing to get them out of California ERs.

S7-Ep05_Credit-Where-Due — Credit Where It’s Due
Credit reporting bureaus announced in April that they would start taking most medical debt off of people's credit reports. It's a bigger deal than we thought.

\graphic that reads "Private equity is everywhere. Really." Photographs on green background include a scan of a human abdomen and a calendar with the word 'colonoscopy' inscribed.\ — “The Golden Age of Older Rectums” , for investors
A listener got a pricey quote for her colonoscopy, but the practice she visited seemed like "the only game in town." We scoped it out and learned the surprising reason why: private equity.

S7-Ep02 Upsolve — Fighting for the right to help
A non-profit called Upsolve wants to train people like pastors, social workers, and librarians to help people know their rights and prepare them to represent themselves in court.

Photo of a shark. Caption reads "filling a prescription means swimming with the sharks. A guide to dangerous waters." — Swimming with sharks
Pharma and insurance insurance companies play incredible, devious, clever games, competing for dollars. They're sharks! And they want to eat us up. Here's a survival guide to those games.

Meet your new rights under the No Surprises Act

A new federal law, the No Surprises Act, protects us from some of the worst out-of-network hospital bills. But there are catches and traps to avoid. We break down what it covers, what to look out for, and who to call if something's not right.