First Aid Kit Archive • An Arm And a Leg

First Aid Kit

Our newsletter sums up and shares the practical lessons we’ve learned about surviving the health care system, financially.

Showing 1-11 of 52

Browse by Category

The Big Picture

Why drugs cost so much — and can be hard to even find

Zooming out from our "Prescription Drug Playbook"

What’s cooking at An Arm and a Leg

We’re building something we hope you’ll like

Navigating Insurance

A local clinic might have a line on affordable meds

Your mileage may vary, but here’s a roadmap.

An old school but worthy directory of prescription drug resources

Especially for need-based assistance programs

Avoiding Ripoffs

A checklist and a new (to us) tip

Getting your meds for less, part two: order of operations

Avoiding Ripoffs

A tool for hunting down prescription discounts

Getting your meds for less, part one: going outside insurance

A First Aid Kit reader organized a medical-debt clinic

And we got to go. Here's what we learned.

An Arm and a Leg’s Summer Reading List

Some of our favorite books about health care in America

Avoiding Ripoffs

Medical-bill resources everyone should know about

Sourced from you, our readers!

More encouragement, via John Green

What I took away from his best-selling new book.

Yes, you can negotiate with bill collectors

Learn the right questions to ask and our best tips for settling up

Looking for something?

For topic-specific deep dives and recommended reading, check out our Starter Packs or use the search bar below to explore our site.

More of our reporting

Starter Packs

Jumping off points: Our best episodes and our best answers to some big questions

Explore our Starter Packs →

Help! I’m stuck with a gigantic medical bill.

Don't freak out. We've laid out tips to help you manage your medical bills.

The prescription drug playbook

The high cost of prescription meds in the US is a crisis: one in four adults say they’ve skipped taking a prescription in the past year because of cost.

Why are my meds so expensive?

Getting your meds shouldn’t feel like mission impossible. Here’s a hand-picked mix of our most practical tips, background stories, and real listener experiences—so you can save money, understand the system, and know you’re not alone.

See All Our Starter Packs

If you don't know where to start or are just getting to know us, we recommend you start here.

Podcast Episodes

Our show about why health care costs so freaking much, and what we can (maybe) do about it.

Explore the podcast →

The great American drug shortage isn’t an accident, it’s artificial (from Organized Money)

What's up with drug shortages? From the podcast Organized Money.

Robots sing: The Prescription Drug Playbook Song

You just gotta hear this.

The Prescription Drug Playbook, Part Two

We bring in experts to share their tricks for getting life-saving meds at an affordable cost.

The Prescription Drug Playbook, Part One

One dad’s quest to get his daughter the meds she needs at a better price uncovers a world of online options.

Could this mathematician’s formula fix US hospitals?

A mathematician on a mission: save U.S. hospitals from financial ruin, and improve the lives of doctors, nurses, and patients. It's already working.

See the Episode Archive

One of the most enraging, terrifying, depressing parts of American life made entertaining, empowering, and useful.