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An Arm and Leg

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An Arm and a Leg is a podcast about why health care costs so freaking much and what we can (maybe) do about it.

If you’ve ever been surprised by a medical bill, you’re in good company. But as our team of seasoned journalists has learned from years of reporting — you’re not always helpless. We don’t have all the answers, but we’ll offer you tools and big picture insights with plenty of humor and heart.

An Arm and a Leg is co-produced with KFF Health News and distributed in partnership with KUOW.

You can support An Arm and a Leg by donating at armandalegshow.com/support/

Show Credits: Created, hosted, and produced by Dan Weissmann with senior producer Emily Pisacreta and engagement producer Claire Davenport, edited by Ellen Weiss. Audio wizard: Adam Raymonda. Music by Dave Winer and Blue Dot Sessions. Bea Bosco is the consulting director of operations. Lynne Johnson is the operations manager.

Episodes

  • Sick Note, pt. 2: Dang

    Dan’s COVID hung on there for a while, kept him SUPER tired. Yoinks. Back in a couple weeks!

  • Fighting for the Right to Help

    It’s illegal to advise someone who’s being sued for medical debt. (Unless you’re a lawyer.) As in, you could go to jail. Two New Yorkers are fighting to change that.

  • Swimming with sharks

    Pharma and insurance companies play devious, clever games, competing for dollars. They’re sharks! And they want to eat us alive.

  • 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: Figuring out who Matthew was really fighting, and how big the battle really was.

  • 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. Won. And has been helping other do the same ever since.

  • 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 year. Plus, our friends at Dollar For build their bill-crushing army, one Zoom training at a time.

  • 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 Bill.” We talked. It was a whole vibe.

  • Revisiting insulin, as relevant (and expensive) as ever

    Updating a story we first reported in 2019, about how insulin got to be so horribly expensive—the scientists who discovered it did NOT want price or profits to keep it away from people who need it—and what some people are doing about it.