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John Green vs. Johnson & Johnson (part 2)

This is part two of our globe-spanning story about drugs, patents, and YouTube megastar John Green. 


Quick recap: In our last episode, we learned how writer and YouTube star John Green …

John Green vs. Johnson & Johnson (part 1)

This episode  is special. When we heard that widely-beloved writer John Green was rallying his online community  around a fight over drug prices — and apparently making a difference — we …

How to Get a Surprise Bill on Your Way to the Hospital

For a year and a half now, the No Surprises Act has protected patients from some of the most outrageous out-of-network medical bills. But Congress left something pretty crucial out of the …

Wait, what’s a PBM (and how do they work)?

If you’ve been told your insurance won’t cover your meds — or that you’re gonna have to pay an arm and a leg for them — you’ve met a PBM: a pharmacy …

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. 


After all, who wants the risk of being overcharged …

A ‘payday loan’ from a health care behemoth

When a New York doctor tweeted recently about “payday loans” for doctors from a branch of UnitedHealth Group — which operates the giant insurance …

Mental health ‘ghost networks’ — and a ghost-buster

For lots of people, trying to access mental health treatment — like a therapist or a psychiatrist —is nothing short of a horror story. You could even …

A $229,000 medical bill goes to court

Before her surgery, a hospital told Lisa French she would end up owing them $1,337. After insurance paid them — more than they’d expected — the …

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. …

Lessons from “wrestling with a giant”

The ER visit was quick and uneventful. The bill was $1,300. Our listener decided to push back. He didn't win, but he learned a lot — and so did we. 


The bill looked like BS. So she took it to small claims court.

“I sued a hospital in small claims court and lost — here’s what I learned.” That was the subject line for an email we got from listener Lauren Slemenda. 


She wrote: “I feel like I won” — and …

Can They Freaking Do That?!? (2023 Edition)

We’re kicking off the year with a throwback. We revisit a 2019 episode that opened up new possibilities for fighting back against outrageous medical bills — a theme we’ll spend a lot more …

2022 in Review

The Arm and a Leg editorial team gathered to talk about the moments from 2022 that we’ll never forget — including when work collided with real life. 


Like pulling teeth.

When a car hit Susan and knocked out a bunch of teeth, her health insurance was supposed to pay for her oral surgery, and she knew it. So why has she had to chase them for 18 months and …

The best video about health insurance, ever

A couple months ago, we started getting messages from listeners telling us: you gotta watch this video. 


It’s a thirty minute YouTube video from a creator named Brian David Gilbert, and it’s …

Health insurance post-Roe, and a grassroots network of abortion funds

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion has been banned in more than a dozen states. As you choose your insurance plan for next year, you might be wondering: How does that …

A listener asks: Could NOT having insurance be a better deal?

It’s open enrollment for 2023 health insurance for lots of folks — a time when you might find yourself asking: what good is health insurance anyway? 


Quick update from Arm and a Leg HQ

Hey there,

You may have noticed, we've been keeping a slower pace for the last few months — publishing every three weeks instead of every two — since Dan recovered from COVID.


And …

California plans to make its own insulin and sell it super-cheap. Really.

This year, the state of California put up $100 million to produce its own insulin, and sell it for cheap. How’s it going to work? (Is it going to …

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. 

The Medical-bill "Negotiation Lab"


It’s often possible to negotiate medical bills. It sounds hard — and it can be — but what if we got it down to a science? Mapped out all the moves ahead of time? Jared Walker and his team …

The Genetic Testing ‘Bait-and-Switch’

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 …

One ER Doc’s Journey Through the Pandemic — and the Health Care System

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 …

These docs are trying to kick private equity out of their ER

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 …

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. At first, we weren’t sure …

“The Golden Age of Older Rectums” (for investors)

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 …

Sick Note: Dan has COVID. (He's fine, but ...)

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 …

Fighting for the Right to Help

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 …

Swimming with sharks

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.


Introducing: Half Vaxxed

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 …

Introducing: Last Day

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, …

Meet your new rights under the No Surprises Act

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 …

2022 update: How to avoid a big bill for your COVID test (feat. Sarah Kliff)

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 …

Our Year in Review, with members of the Arm and a Leg team

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, …

Why rapid COVID tests are so freaking expensive

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 …

Fighting with health insurance is easy (for Jacqueline Fox)

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 …

How to avoid the crappiest health insurance.

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 …

The Insurance Warrior takes on a $61B Company

When Mattew Lientz needed surgery to save his life, his insurance wouldn’t cover it. Enter: Laurie Todd, the Insurance Warrior. Her first task: …

Meet the Insurance Warrior

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. …

We spend 12 million hours a week on the phone with health insurance

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 …

Wait, that was legal until now?!?

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 …

"We just kept right on pushing"

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 …

The wild backstory of a tiny but crucial Obamacare provision (ft. David Axelrod)

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 …

A legendary lawyer sued hospitals for price-gouging their patients. And got his butt handed to him.

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 …

We’re back! Starting Aug 19. And we’ve got some doozies for you.

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 …

Badass volunteers help Jared level up, in the fight to crush medical debt

An update on Jared Walker, whose viral TikTok described a little-known (and effective) method to “crush” many hospital bills, and offered to help …

A whole book about fighting effed-up medical bills? Yes, please.

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 …

Want to write a killer letter to insurance? Meet Jeannine.

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 …

Mini-episode: One guy skirts a medical-bill trap, and shares the secret.

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 …

Why picking the right insurance is so hard (bonus/encore)

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 …

Programming note: We're working on some cool new stuff.

... and it's gonna take us a little while to get it ready for you— maybe a couple months. Meanwhile, we'll have little updates for you here and there.

... and it's a great time to sign up …

Who's been trying to cash in on COVID vaccinations? (And how did racism help them out?)

With COVID vaccinations ramping up, it's time to check in: Who's been trying to make a buck? And who's been doing their best to serve the folks who …

Revisiting insulin, as relevant (and expensive) as ever

We're re-releasing and updating a story we first reported in 2019, about how insulin got to be so horribly expensive—the scientists who discovered it …

A legal strategy for erasing billions in medical debt— that works—from a 60-second video.

Yep. This viral TikTok video's recipe for "crushing" medical bills is legally sound. And IRS filings from thousands of hospitals attest to $2.7 …

A former "bad guy" lawyer shows us how the dark machinery works. And our rights.

Jeff is a lawyer who used to represent medical-bill collectors in court. ("I was a bad guy, for sure," he says.)

But he switched sides, and he's here …

Fight! My family tries to pick health insurance for next year. COVID makes it harder.

Keeping the plan we've got means paying $200 a month more. But... would a "cheaper" plan cost us more in the long run? It depends! And COVID makes it …

Andy Slavitt gives us a COVID check-in from 40,000 feet

Andy Slavitt, who ran a big chunk of health care for the Obama administration, has spent 2020 talking with almost everybody who knows anything about the COVID pandemic— and sharing what he …

How to avoid a big bill for your COVID test: with Sarah Kliff of the New York Times

They're supposed to be free. And usually they are. But sometimes... things happen. Here's how to keep them from happening to YOU.


New York Times reporter Sarah Kliff has been asking readers …

How to Keep Cool in a Tough Moment: A self-defense expert breaks it down

Possibly our most-useful episode ever. A listener asked: How do I remain cool when calling insurance companies?


We called a veteran self-defense …

David v Goliath: How to beat a big hospital (using small claims court)

In a classic—and hilarious—David vs. Goliath story, Jeffrey Fox takes on a huge hospital over an outrageous bill, and wins.


He's a bit of an expert in …

How to handle debt collectors, with the TikTok Mom and a legal expert

There's a reason Shaunna Burns went viral with her videos about dealing with debt collectors: She used to be one, so she knows a few things. (Also …

Your TikTok Mom has some medical-bill tips, and a hell of a story

Forty-something mom Shaunna Burns went viral on TikTok, thanks in part to a series of videos dishing out real-talk advice on fighting outrageous medical bills. She's become the virtual mom …

A Blast of Hope and Humanity: Here's what perseverance looks like

Laura Derrick fought and endured for decades. When medical bills threatened to swamp her family, she made huge sacrifices, worked unbelievably hard... and helped change the course of …

She tangled with health insurance every day for 25 years. And loved it. Here's what she can teach us.

Barbara Faubion got up every day psyched to go to work—which she says puzzled her friends. “They’d go, ‘You love your job?!? You spend your whole day …

How to fight like a bulldog (against bogus medical bills)

Steve Benasso is an HR director who, his colleagues will tell you, hates insurance companies, and hates seeing people getting taken advantage of. So …

Financial self-defense school, now in session: Make your own luck.

If you need medical care, it's like you've entered a casino, playing for your financial life, with the deck stacked against you. Lucky for us, we get insight — and tips the dealer WON'T …

We’re back! Dealing with the cost of health care seems pretty relevant right now.

There's no time like a pandemic to (a) learn to fight back against the awful cost of health care. And (b) have a good time doing it. Yep. Let’s go.

The hug shortage, the new abnormal, and the $7,000 COVID test. What we've learned in SEASON-19

We wrap up our COVID-19 popup season with stories from three folks with very different takes on what we've learned so far about what the pandemic is …

How Katelyn survived COVID—without going bankrupt. (Not easy. She has tips.)

In early April, Katelyn was in a financial bind: Home sick with COVID, she hadn't been paid in weeks. And bills were due. "My landlord is kinda beating down my door right now," she said in …

From inside the health insurance company: Angst, and advice we can use.

A listener, who has worked in health insurance for decades, wrote in. "I have listened to all the episodes in this podcast, and there are times I come away feeling bad working for the …

The severe, weird recession... in health care. And what it means for our wallets

You've probably noticed: The U.S. economy is crashing.


Something you may not have noticed, that may sound really weird: Almost half of that economic devastation comes from just one sector.

Like a fire with no one to call: 'We've left no latent capacity in health care.'

Ryan Gamlin spent a decade working on the financial side of health care, before going to medical school. Now, as an anesthesiologist in Los Angeles, …

If I get COVID-19, what good will my insurance do me?

Lots of people have insurance plans that only cover them with certain places —providers, certain hospitals.


But: in a COVID pandemic surge, who knows if you'd end up one of those places? And …

Makers unite: Speeding PPE to a COVID hospital

We kick off SEASON-19, about the cost of COVID, with a dose of hope — a story about an unlikely chain of people coming together to speed PPE to a COVID hospital in Brooklyn. NYC is a couple …

Whoa. Welcome to SEASON-19

We were not expecting to bring the next season out for another couple months, but... STUFF has been happening. Is happening. We're here with you. Bring us your stories and your QUESTIONS: …

Reporter's Notebook: What we've learned so far, and what's ahead.

This bonus episode turns the tables: Ace reporter Sally Herships interviews Arm and a Leg host Dan Weissmann, about what he's learned so far, and what's ahead for the show. \They dig into …

Watch Your Back: Outwitting the Back-Pain Industry

Cathryn Jakobson Ramin, an investigative reporter with a bad back, spent years researching the $100-billion back-pain industry. She found that the most commonly-prescribed treatments, …

Christmas in July

How one family's tragedy became, decades later, a $1 million gift to their neighbors. This story has everything: Laughter. Tears. Family. Community. Generosity. Softball. AND: Punk rock. …

Can they freaking DO that?!?

A woman got a bill from a medical testing lab she’s never heard of, for $35. Then, a follow-up bill said if she didn’t pay up right away, that price …

Health Care: The Musical

It would sound a LOT like Explanation of Benefits, which is a musical revue that actually played in New York City in 2019.


... so it would feature a …

My Neighbor the Health-Care Ninja

Meredith Balogh has spent years learning to navigate the financial side of the health-care system. She’s a type-one diabetic, she’s never had a lot of money, and for years she didn’t have …

Mom vs. Texas

Stephanie Wittels Wachs has a daughter born with hearing loss, which is how she found out insurance didn't cover hearing aids for kids. Those start at $6,000 and only last a few years. …

An actor walks into a doctor’s office…


Dr. Saul Weiner is a physician and researcher at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center and the University of Illinois at Chicago. (Photo: Roberta …

Whoa, this medical device is spying on me. In my sleep. So my insurer can deny me coverage.


That’s the rude awakening Eric Umansky got when he called the company that provided his CPAP machine — a device that helps him breathe at night.

He got mad. And he got even, in a way: Eric …

Coming next week: The price of insulin

As we started working on season two of this podcast, there was one topic that seemed like we just had to look at: insulin.

… and I wondered: There are …

Why are drug prices so random? Meet Mr. PBM

I filled a prescription recently, and the drugstore said they wanted more than 700 bucks… for an old-line generic drug. My insurance ended up …

How much for an MRI? Well, that depends…

This week, we look at three MRIs with four different price tags, and an enormous range. 



Liz Salmi and a view of her brain. (Photo: Kaiser Health News)

The first two price tags come from …

To get paid, hospitals get creative

Hospital bills are too high, and insurance doesn’t cover enough. Turns out, that’s a crisis for hospitals too: more and more of us aren’t paying those bills, because we can’t. So, they’re …

We thought we had adulted properly

Caitlin and Corey Gaffer got a surprise letter from their insurance company — saying they were being dumped for non-payment. Except, as far as they knew, they were paid up.

As it turned out, …

A “deal” on health insurance comes with troubling strings

Bari Tessler is a little famous as a “financial therapist,” but even she gets rattled by the price of health care.


Her story is complicated. And very relatable.


Bari chose to use a Christian …

Why are ER bills so horrible? Sarah Kliff spent a year finding out. (Season One, episode 7)

Emergency rooms often bill you a “cover charge” just for walking in the door, and it can be thousands of dollars.

That’s in addition to the huge …

Why Health Insurance Actually Sucks (Season One, episode 6)


Turns out, insurance companies allow — even encourage — crazy price-gouging by hospitals. For example, the leg brace Blake needed was available for $150 on Amazon. But thanks to his …

So, Robin Hood’s got an approach to medical bills. (Season One, episode 5)


The health-care system — especially the financial side — can feel like a Medieval torture device. So maybe it fits that workers from Renaissance fairs have come up with a work-around.

In …

Why you (and I) will likely pick the wrong health-insurance plan (Season One, episode 4)


Because as smart economists recently proved) it is super-confusing, and most of us can’t do the math.

But! We found glimmers of hope. So don’t be scared.


We’d like to hear how you’re choosing …

How one drug got its $500,000 price tag. (With 99 Percent Invisible– Season One, episode 3)


The answer involves a suburban housewife, a 1970s TV star, and a Las Vegas maker of popcorn and nacho cheese sauce. Also: Wall Street.

Produced with …

All the Marbles: One woman’s epic quest for health insurance (Season One, episode 2)


Laura Derrick takes a drug that costs more than $500,000 a year.

So when her family was going to lose their insurance, she made crazy sacrifices… and changed the course of history.


Find Us …

This is Water, and it sucks. Let’s talk. (Season One, episode 1)


When I first started talking about doing a show about the cost of health care… everybody had a story. Including me.

It’s like that famous speech by …

A podcast about the cost of health care, coming November 2018

The spiraling cost of medical care shapes people’s lives: The jobs we’re afraid to leave because of insurance, the risk that a trip to the doc could …

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