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 seemed too good to be true—but seemed to be coming from her current insurer. Mitra was skeptical, and it turns out, she had every reason to be. Dania Palanker from Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms unpacks this sketchy scheme, and gives us the key to avoiding it: When you're searching for health insurance... skip Google. Seriously.
Then, some top health insurance nerds teach us how to really shop for health insurance: where to find the fine print and how to read it.
They also deliver some good news (for once): Thanks to subsidies in the American Rescue Plan some deals this year are actually… deals! Meaning: health insurance got more affordable for lots of people this year. Here's the subsidy calculator we mention in the episode.
Want to read all of those tips in one place? Check out First Aid Kit, the newsletter where we're summing up all the practical stuff we've been learning since this show launched.
Here’s a transcript of the episode.
And of course we’d love for you to support this show. This month, every dollar you donate is DOUBLED, thanks to NewsMatch and the Institute for Nonprofit News.
Holy cow, what a deal. Here, go for it.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More episodes from An Arm and a Leg
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.
How you can listen to this podcast
You can listen to episodes right here on the website, or if you prefer, in a podcast app. Listening in an app makes it easier to keep track of what you’ve already heard, listen without using your data plan and many other conveniences.