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.

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Two things to try before paying off medical debt

Don’t pay without checking these first.

Help us build a one-stop shop resource

Plus an exciting DIY project to help your neighbors

How to stare down — and maybe scare off — a bill collector

What the “Fair Debt Collection Practices Act” can do for you, pt. 1

We wiped out almost $10K of my roommate’s medical bills

How we tackled nearly $10k out of $14.5k in medical bills

How to (maybe) steer clear of facility fees

Our two best strategies for avoiding these increasingly common charges

We’ve still got some protections against medical debt collectors

And they’re still worth knowing about, you know??

Finding encouragement

And not just in fighting medical bills

How my roommate and I are tackling almost $14,500 in medical bills, Pt. 2

Reading Your Receipts

The Big Picture

A medical-debt watchdog gets sidelined: Now what?

This federal agency kept bill collectors in line. It might be disappearing.

February 26, 2025

How my roommate and I are tackling almost $14,500 in medical bills

Part One: Getting Organized

February 19, 2025

First Aid Kit is going weekly.

Restocking the kit with more advice for navigating the evolving health care ~hellscape~ in 2025.

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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

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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.