Our favorite project of 2025 levels up — and you can help

Dan: Hey there. 

A few weeks ago I told you about a project that’s brought me a ton of encouragement this year — a project started and grown by listeners to this show.

And that project? It’s gotten even more exciting in the last few weeks.

And it’s getting set up to grow and grow in 2026. With plenty of room for so many people to help, in big ways and small.

Quick recap: Early this year, we got an email from a med student in Brooklyn, Thomas Sanford. He’d been spreading the word about an organization he’d learned about from this show: Dollar For, a nonprofit that helps people apply for financial assistance from hospitals.

Thomas Sanford: So I reached out to them — sent them an email. They very kindly sent me a PDF of their small little business touch cards they have. And I printed out a thousand of them —started handing ’em out to residents and giving them to patients.

Dan: He wanted to know: Did we have something more comprehensive? Like with links to help getting prescription drugs for less? Or with information about how to deal with insurance problems?

We didn’t, but we wrote about Thomas’s note in our First Aid Kit newsletter, with a quick list of things we might put on a one-sheet handout. 

Thomas MADE that handout — and included resources some of *you* wrote back with in response to that newsletter. 

Thomas Sanford: I had so many people reach out with great ideas for resources. They were super, unbelievably helpful.

Dan: He started giving that handout to patients — and shared it with us for more feedback. We talked with him for the podcast, and now… 

Lemme just tell you… Between the work Thomas has started doing in the last few weeks and some design know-how that another listener has started kicking in, this whole thing is ready to LEVEL UP.

This is An Arm and a Leg– a show about why health care costs so freaking much, and what we can maybe do about it. I’m Dan Weissmann. I’m a reporter, and I like a challenge. So the job we’ve chosen on this show is to take one of the most enraging, terrifying, depressing parts of American life, and bring you a show that’s entertaining, empowering, and useful.

So, one of the cool things about the way Thomas set up the one-page handout he created was: He put it under a “creative commons” license — basically giving permission for anybody to make copies or their own versions.

But there was a little bit of a problem: Thomas had created this thing on Google Docs.

And that’s not IDEAL for a handout that tries to make smart use of space — like by putting information in columns, or by including QR codes, so people can scan links right from their phones.

Luckily, when we asked: Can anyone help Thomas make this thing even better? The right person was listening.

Rosemary: I’m Rosemary Rogers. I work in user experience design and research. Basically trying to make things easier for people to accomplish their goal.

Dan: Make things easier to use. 

Rosemary: When there was a request for some volunteers and just help kind of putting it together I figured I could help with that.

Dan: And Rosemary brought some special expertise. From an assignment at work.

Rosemary: One of my projects has been around helping people navigate their surprise medical bills, like understanding their rights with the No Surprises Act.

Dan: Um, yeah, so: Talking with Rosemary, I realized. She had MADE some of the resources Thomas ended up adding to his guide. These were tools posted to federal government websites, and they were great. I was like… 

Dan-in-tape: Are you the person who wrote to me about that? Oh my God, I should have totally remembered.

Rosemary: No, to be fair, I shared that with you on another email than this email, so… 

Dan: OK, different email address. I’m off the hook.

So, Rosemary’s version addresses two issues with Thomas’s original document. First:

?Because Rosemary’s a designer who specializes in FUNCTION, she’s made some visual tweaks. 

So now each resource is in a little box with rounded corners. All the text is in a super-easy-to-read font. 

And second: Rosemary’s version is easy to adapt– to make your own version of.

Because wherever YOU live, there are probably local resources people should know about. Want help applying for Medicaid? There’s a LOCAL organization to call. Is your insurance jerking you around? You want a link to YOUR state’s regulator.

Rosemary: Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Like I’d make one for my town, you know, over time see what’s like local and then make a local page.

Dan: As Thomas pointed out: If you’re working in a hospital, maybe you want to give your patients a link directly to *your* hospital’s financial assistance program. 

And because Rosemary has built this layout in a website called Canva, that’s not hard to do.

We’ve made a link — that’ll allow you to open up your own, personal copy of Rosemary’s design and start adapting it however you need.

Which I totally love. 

Meanwhile, Thomas has started moving on another track: Getting this thing to health care workers, so they can get it to patients.

He’s started contacting local leaders of unions that represent … medical residents. And he’s got a long checklist after that.

Thomas: Any medical society, a nursing union, any career that’s patient facing directly, that’s sort of a natural spot, I think, for maximizing the reach because it’s much harder to reach an audience of every American with insurance troubles. It’s a lot easier to find an audience of every medical provider who is then going to see every American who seeks medical care.

Dan: I think this is so, so smart: getting this information to people exactly when they may first realize they need it.

Oh, and he’s got this other idea I really, really like. It involves a piece of the basic dress code for health care workers.

Thomas: Like every doctor on the planet has to wear a lanyard with their ID on it.

Dan: And they’ve got a little dongle — called a badge reel — that lets you hold out your badge for swiping in or whatever, without taking off the lanyard or bending way over. 

Thomas: You can get them with all sorts of like little designs on the front. 

Dan:  Like a cartoon of a grumpy cat — or the Grateful Dead logo, or whatever really. So…

Thomas: Rather than it being their favorite sports team, could it be QR codes to a resource like this? So that as patients come with those concerns, they can just say, scan my lanyard. 

Dan: Oh.  

Thomas: Yeah. 

Dan: OK. All of this is genius. Here’s where we come in. You and me.

First, when someone scans that lanyard, where does that link go? 

Well, hey: I know a website that could host a digital version of this resource list. That would be arm and a leg show dot com.

So we’ve got a first draft up right now, at arm and a leg show dot com, slash, help. 

We’ve built it to be easy to use on a mobile phone — since that’s what you’ve probably got with you, if a health care worker is holding out their badge to you.

And then, we’ve got a second page, for anyone who wants to participate– to pitch in. 

That one is arm and a leg show dot com, slash, helpers.

That’s where you’ll find Rosemary’s PDF — so you can print out as many copies as you want. Hand em out. Leave piles of them at … your local library? Community centers? Hospital waiting rooms.

And you’ll find that special link, to customize Rosemary’s version.

There’ll be some basic instructions for how to use that link.

AND there’ll be a contact form. You can sign up to tell us — and Thomas, and Rosemary — ways you’d like to pitch in. 

Or make suggestions to make the next version even better.

Or tell us what you’re already doing: You’re making copies and distributing them? You’ve made a version featuring local resources in your area?

Let us know.

I have to say: I think this could take off.

When I talked with Thomas, he was in the middle of applying for medical residencies. He told me he’d been mentioning this project in his interviews, and the people he was talking to were like, “TELL ME MORE.”

Thomas: And these are not small fry people. These are program directors and administrators at some of the largest, most prestigious medical institutions in the country. Well, maybe not most impressive, but like pretty darn impressive. I don’t wanna hype myself up too much.

Dan: I will take it.

Here’s what I love the absolute most: 

This is all happening because people listening to this show — and reading our newsletters — are coming together, taking what they’ve learned here, and putting it to work.

Dozens of you have gotten in touch with Thomas and with us, offering suggestions and volunteering to pitch in.

And in addition to Thomas and Rosemary, these latest steps owe a huge debt to a couple of folks I want to mention here:

Last spring, a listener named Rose Gasner wrote to us a medical debt workshop she was about to lead at the Brooklyn Public Library. And we got to check it out. 

[sound from Brooklyn Library]

Dan: Are you Rose? 

Rose: I’m Rose. 

Dan: Great to meet you! 

Rose: Oh my God, your voice…

Dan: Oh yeah, and we got to go. 

Dan: This is Emily and Claire.

Claire: Hi, nice to meet you.

Dan: Thomas’s project was still developing then, and Rose wanted a handout ready for the event.

Rose: ?So we developed one. 

Dan: Oh. 

Rose: Doing our best. 

Dan: Wait really?Look at this. 

Dan: And one thing stood out: The top resources on her list were local to New York, and when we talked about it, Rose hammered home to me the importance of giving people specific information tailored to their circumstances.

Rose: ?It’s been my whole career trying to figure out social service navigation. 

Dan: Yeah. 

Rose: And it’s very hard. 

Dan: It’s hard. Yeah. 

Dan: Our determination to make this a configurable resource that anyone can adapt — it comes directly from that conversation with Rose.

And: When Thomas set out to spread the word among health care workers, the first person he got in touch with was a medical resident — and Arm and a Leg listener — named Joey Ballard.

Because: A year ago, we talked with Joey on this show about his own advocacy and activism as a med student and resident. 

I mention all of this because it is so incredibly moving to me. This is a show about why health care costs so much and what we can maybe do about it. And with this project, more than ever before, I’ve been seeing that “WE” coming together.

This work that WE are doing could not be more timely. As I record this, Congress hasn’t renewed enhanced subsidies for Obamacare. Millions of people are likely to lose insurance, or drop it. The insurance people get from work keeps covering less and less. And huge cuts to Medicaid are coming.

We need a structural fix.

But in the meantime, we can help each other survive. You’ve been working with us to develop the tools to do more.

We’ve gotten this far with your help. Nobody owns An Arm and a Leg. Our biggest source of support has always been you.

We got a boost in 2025 from a foundation — we used their money to bring First Aid Kit back as a weekly resource. To collect dozens and dozens of your stories and tips on getting better prices for prescription drugs and compile them into a playbook. To revamp our website and add starter packs.

That was a one-time boost. It was huge. Those projects set us up to build this one, with you.

And now, it’s up we need your help to keep building it. Help as in pitching in, and help as in: We do this for a living.

Everybody on the team here — we’re talking about incredibly accomplished professionals. 

I don’t want to brag, but OK I will: We won an award that I’m really proud of this year, from the online news association. The previous winners? Last year it was LA’s public-radio outlet, called LAist studios. The year before that, Al Jazeera. And the year before that, the Wall Street Journal.

What I’m saying is: This is our livelihood. We’re good at it. And if you can swing it, we need your financial help to keep doing this work, and to keep growing it. So many of you have already pitched in this year.

If you haven’t yet, I’m asking you now: Go to arm and a leg show dot com, slash, support — and pitch in.

Arm and a leg show dot com, slash, support.

We’ve got our work cut out for us this year — I am so lucky to get to do this work. Please help us keep doing it.

Thank you so, so much. We’ll catch you in a few weeks, in 2026.

Till then, take care of yourself. 

This episode of An Arm and a Leg was produced by me, Dan Weissmann– with help from Emily Pisacreta — and edited by Ellen Weiss. 

Adam Raymonda is our audio wizard.

Our music is by Dave Weiner and Blue Dot Sessions. 

Claire Davenport is our engagement producer.

Sarah Ballema is our Operations Manager. Bea Bosco is our consulting director of operations. 

An Arm and a Leg is produced in partnership with KFF Health News. That’s a national newsroom producing in-depth journalism about health issues in America and a core program at KFF, an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.

 Zach Dyer is senior audio producer at KFF Health News. He’s editorial liaison to this show.

An Arm and a Leg is distributed by KUOW, Seattle’s NPR news station.

And thanks to the Institute for Nonprofit News for serving as our fiscal sponsor.

They allow us to accept tax-exempt donations. You can learn more about INN at INN.org.

Finally, thank you to everybody who supports this show financially.

You can join in any time at arm and a leg show, dot com, slash: support.

We’re recording this episode pretty far in advance — so we will be shouting out donors when we come back in January.  

For now– you know who you are!  Thank you SO much!