The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Health care â and how much it costs â is scary. But youâre not alone with this stuff, and knowledge is power.Â
An Arm and a Leg, a podcast about these issues, is co-produced by host Dan Weissmann and Ńîšóĺú´ŤĂ˝Ňîl Health News. Previously, Weissmann was a staff reporter for Marketplace and Chicago’s WBEZ. His work also appears on “All Things Considered,” Marketplace, the BBC, 99% Invisible, and “Reveal” from the Center for Investigative Reporting.
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When a colleague brings a medical billing problem to human resources director Steve Benasso â he goes to battle. âI am a bulldog on this stuff,â he said. In this episode, Benasso tells how he does it.
Starting in August 2020, a new episode every other week. No time like a pandemic to learn more about how to fight the high cost of health care.
âAn Arm and a Legâ wraps an all-COVID podcast season with three different perspectives on what the pandemic is costing us â and what might come next.
After being sick with COVID-19, missing weeks of work and pay, this podcast listener has a great story and some advice for us all.
A podcast listener who works in the health insurance industry says that when youâre trying to untangle a problem with your health insurance company ask the representative on the phone to slow down. And if need be, donât hesitate to ask to speak with a supervisor.
In the first quarter of 2020, half the countryâs economic devastation happened in the health care sector. Much of the slowdown came after hospitals postponed elective surgeries and as Americans skipped routine doctorâs office visits.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act requires private insurers to pay for certain services related to coronavirus testing at no cost to the patient. But gaps in the protections expose patients to unexpected medical bills.
This week on âAn Arm and a Leg,â a front-line physician wonders if the health care industryâs drive for âefficiencyâ has robbed the system of surge capacity, leaving the nation underprepared to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
âAn Arm and a Legâ is back sharing stories about the ways COVID-19 intersects with the cost of health care. To tackle a listenerâs question about health coverage, Dan Weissmann spoke with one of the countryâs top insurance nerds.
âAn Arm and a Legâ is back â sooner than we expected â with stories about how COVID-19 intersects with the cost of health care, and how we can all respond. So weâre calling it SEASON-19.
For this bonus episode of âAn Arm and a Leg,â Dan Weissmann gives up the hostâs chair and answers questions from reporter and colleague Sally Herships.
Cathryn Jakobson Ramin, author of the book âCrooked,â says chronic low back pain is not a medical condition. Nonetheless, that complaint sends millions of Americans down a path of expensive imaging tests, ongoing therapies and invasive surgery â all with limited effectiveness for many patients. In a conversation with âAn Arm and a Legâ podcast host Dan Weissmann, Ramin shares her journey of back pain and recovery.
Every year â for decades â the Buehler family and friends have organized a softball tournament in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area to raise money for someone with big medical expenses. In 2019, the group helped forgive $1 million in medical debt.
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis, Tenn., sued thousands of patients for unpaid medical bills. Journalist Wendi Thomas wrote about it. Months later, the hospital dropped 6,500 lawsuits.
Introducing a new segment on âAn Arm and a Legâ podcast: âCan They Freaking Do That?!?â We take your most vexing medical bill questions and hunt down information and experts who can help.
Itâs open enrollment season for health insurance. And choosing the best plan is tricky whether you have to buy insurance on your own or just figure out which plan to sign up for at work. Hereâs what you need to know.
Consumers are admonished to be âsmart shoppers,â but thatâs difficult if health care prices are clear as mud. When Sarah Macsalkaâs son needed stitches, she did her best to avoid the ER and still ended up with a $3,000 bill.
After surviving two double lung transplants, Dylan Mortimer, a Kansas City artist, turns his battle with cystic fibrosis into joyous, whimsical art. Now Mortimer buys glitter by the pound and uses it to create mixed-media collages and sculptures for hospitals, private collectors and public spaces.
Kvetching about the cost of health care is kind of what we do on the podcast âAn Arm and a Leg.â This weekâs episode features like-minded storytellers â from the musical troupe Heck No Techo â who have turned their frustrations into art and laughter.
On Season 3, Episode 2 of the podcast âAn Arm and a Leg,â an Illinois woman harnesses a lifetime of experience â and frustration â with health care finances to help other people solve their medical bill problems.
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