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An Arm and a Leg
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…
Episodes
- An Arm and a Leg
50 years of health-care fights, a history lesson
Hey, first! If you value what we do, this is the best-ever time to support our work. Seriously: In November, any gift you make is matched 2-to-1: You give us…
- An Arm and a Leg
Hidden Help: What Happened When Oregon Forced Hospitals to Boost Financial Aid? (From Tradeoffs)
Hey, real quick: If you value what we do, this is the best-ever time to support our work. This November, every donation gets matched three-for-one thanks to…
- An Arm and a Leg
Medicare plans keep disappearing
Hey, real quick: If you value what we do, this is the best-ever time to support our work. This November, every donation gets matched three-for-one thanks to…
- An Arm and a Leg
System meltdown: employer-sponsored health insurance
Hey, real quick: If you value what we do, this is the best-ever time to support our work. This November, every donation gets matched three-for-one thanks to…
- An Arm and a Leg
A Texas doctor’s love letter to ‘the People’s Hospital’ (from 2023)
We’re bringing back a favorite episode from 2023 that raises a question as relevant as ever: What if we had a decent, publicly-funded health system…
- An Arm and a Leg
Julie Rovner is worried: Checking in with a veteran DC reporter.
Last May, just a few months into the second Trump Administration, changes to federal health programs were happening at a bewildering pace. We brought in KFF…
- An Arm and a Leg
How to Fight a Health Insurance Denial With a Little-Known Tool (from ProPublica’s "Paper Trail")
After her husband L was hospitalized for a severe mental health crisis, Teressa barely had a moment to breathe before the health insurance denials started…
- An Arm and a Leg
The Prescription Drug Playbook (Full Version)
While we’re busy working on some big projects this summer, we’re re-releasing some of our most ambitious and useful reporting to date. Last year…
- An Arm and a Leg
The Chatbot Will See You Now: Big Tech In Therapy (from Organized Money)
One place you might assume is safe from prying ears is your therapy session. But as more therapists struggle to negotiate with insurers, they’re turning…
- An Arm and a Leg
The Supreme Court case that could slow generic drugs
It’s a case you’ve (probably) never heard of: This week, the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in Hikma v. Amarin — a legal battle that…
- An Arm and a Leg
Why drugs cost so much, 101: Medicine monopolies
We’re always asking: Why do drugs cost so freaking much? And it’s a complicated question. There are a bunch of reasons — to be sure. But in…
- An Arm and a Leg
‘Not workable’: How two Americans picked a plan this year — or didn’t
This year, the price of health insurance increased dramatically for millions of people. Tens of millions. Obamacare subsidies shrunk, and premiums skyrocketed…
- An Arm and a Leg
The EpiPen and Food Allergies (from Drug Story)
Hey, first! We’re looking for your help. Can you take a couple minutes and fill out our Audience Survey? We’re dying to know more about the…
- An Arm and a Leg
NYT’s Ron Lieber: ‘These people are not going to win.'
Thirty-six hours before his wife was scheduled for a major surgery, New York Times personal finance columnist Ron Lieber got a letter in the mail that sent him…
- An Arm and a Leg
'Sh**’s wild': Scaling up, doubling down, and buckling in
For five years, we’ve been following the work of Dollar For and its founder Jared Walker, watching them quickly scale up their efforts to help people…
- An Arm and a Leg
Our favorite project of 2025 levels up – and you can help
Hey, first! If you value what we do, we need your support to keep it going in 2026. We have SO much work ahead, and we can’t do it without you. Every…
- An Arm and a Leg
Some more things that didn’t suck in 2025
Hey, first! If you value what we do, this is the best-ever time to support our work. We have SO much work ahead in 2026. Donate here. We’re back for…
- An Arm and a Leg
How to pick health insurance — in the worst year ever
Hey, first! If you value what we do, this is the best-ever time to support our work: This month, every donation gets matched two-for-one. We have SO much work…
- An Arm and a Leg
Some things that didn’t suck in 2025 (really)
Hey, first! If you value what we do, this is the best-ever time to support our work: This month, every donation gets matched two-for-one. We have SO much work…
- An Arm and a Leg
This health economist wants your medical bills
Economist Vivian Ho has been researching the US health care system for four decades. These days she focuses on what she describes as the biggest burden on the…
- An Arm and a Leg
We love this listener’s project — and your response
A listener named Thomas Sanford wrote to us earlier this year, asking for help with a little DIY project. And it’s turned into the most encouraging thing…
- An Arm and a Leg
Will we be able to afford insurance in 2026?
For the first time, our senior producer, Emily, has to sign up for Obamacare. And it turns out, it’s one heck of a year to do that. A recent headline…
- An Arm and a Leg
The Insurance Warrior battles a $61 billion company (from 2021)
Hey first! We need your help: Financial help. Donations from listeners power this show, and we’ve got a goal: 100 people making their first-ever gift…
- An Arm and a Leg
A wild health insurance hustle
When a New York couple purchased a health insurance plan from a telemarketer, everything sounded legit. Meds, doctors, tests? All covered. But it didn't take…
- An Arm and a Leg
The great American drug shortage isn't an accident, it's artificial (from Organized Money)
As a follow-up to our series The Prescription Drug Playbook — all about how you can get the meds you need at a price you can (maybe) afford &mdash…
- An Arm and a Leg
The Prescription Drug Playbook, Part Two
In February, we asked you, our listeners, to share the tips, tricks, and tactics you’ve learned for getting the medicine you need at prices you can…
- An Arm and a Leg
Trailer: The Prescription Drug Playbook
Too many of us get sticker shock when we go to pick up our meds. We asked our listeners how they get by in this situation, and we learned dozens of tips. And…
- An Arm and a Leg
The Prescription Drug Playbook, Part One
In surveys, one in four Americans report having to skip their medications due to cost. We asked our listeners: what strategies have you used when you’ve…
- An Arm and a Leg
Could this mathematician’s formula fix US hospitals?
What do the KGB and the former CEO of Cincinnati Children's Hospital have in common? At different times, they’ve each looked to a guy named Eugene Litvak…
- An Arm and a Leg
A longtime expert puts 2025-so-far in perspective
With news blasting from Washington like a firehose, it feels impossible to take it all in — to stay on top of all the changes the Trump administration…
- An Arm and a Leg
Why ‘The Pitt’ is our fave new drama
People who work in real-life emergency rooms have raved about how accurately the new drama The Pitt (Max) captures the dynamics and the medical details of…
- An Arm and a Leg
Winning a two-year fight over a bogus bill
A few months ago, we got a note from a listener named Meagan, who wanted to thank us. She said the stories she heard on this show had given her the advice and…
- An Arm and a Leg
A medical-debt watchdog gets sidelined by the new administration
A federal agency called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — CFPB for short — has taken big steps to help people with medical debt. In early…
- An Arm and a Leg
Big news: Our ‘First Aid Kit’ newsletter is now weekly
Hey – real quick: some big news from the team at An Arm and a Leg. Our First Aid Kit newsletter is going weekly! First Aid Kit brings you advice from our…
- An Arm and a Leg
How do you deal with wild drug prices?
We’re kicking off a new reporting project about how much we pay for our medicine — and what we can maybe do about it — and we want to hear…
An Arm and a LegThe ‘Shkreli Awards’ — for dysfunction and profiteering in health care
You remember a guy named Martin Shkreli? If his name rings a bell, it’s probably because back in 2015, he jacked up the price of an old drug — from…
- An Arm and a Leg
This is An Arm and a Leg
An Arm and a Leg is a show about why health care costs so freaking much, and what we can (maybe) do about it. New episodes every three weeks. Support the show…
- An Arm and a Leg
A listener fighting the good fight
A few weeks ago, a listener sent us a note with a link to a news article about a new resolution that had recently been adopted by the American Medical…
- An Arm and a Leg
Revisiting ‘Christmas In July’
Today we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes from the archive – a story about giving – and bringing you an update. In 1980, a young father named Denny…
- An Arm and a Leg
New lessons from the fight for charity care
Longtime listeners to this show know we’ve been talking about something called “charity care” for years. Federal law requires that all…
- An Arm and a Leg
Fight health insurance — with help from AI
Several listeners sent us an article with the headline Make your health insurance cry, about a new AI tool to fight health insurance. We had to learn more…
- An Arm and a Leg
Can racism make you sick?
Something different: We talk with journalist Cara Anthony about topics that don’t always come up in conversations about the cost of health care. For the last…
- An Arm and a Leg
Special Feature: A Beloved Nursing Home, from “To See Each Other”
We're sharing an episode of “To See Each Other,” about a question that’s SUPER-relevant to this show: How do we pay for long-term care, like nursing homes? To…
- An Arm and a Leg
“Baby steps” in the fight against facility fees
An $88 “observation room” fee for a check-up didn’t sit right with Kari Greene, a listener from Oregon. When the price went up to $99 the next year, Kari…
- An Arm and a Leg
Anatomy of a Fall: One rural hospital’s ransomware story (from Click Here)
What happens when a hospital gets hit by a ransomware attack? We’re sharing an episode from a podcast called Click Here that takes us inside the aftermath of a…
- An Arm and a Leg
Don’t get “bullied” into paying what you don’t owe
Caitlyn Mai expected her share of a recent surgery bill to be about $2,000, with insurance covering the rest. Then she started getting alerts on her phone from…
- An Arm and a Leg
We want to see your hospital bills
We’re starting a new investigation and need your help. We’re looking into something we’ve talked about a lot on this show: hospital financial assistance – also…
- An Arm and a Leg
The woman who beat an $8,000 hospital fee
Georgann Boatright's local hospital told her she'd need to pay an $8,000 "operating room" charge for a test she was pretty darn sure wouldn't involve an…
- An Arm and a Leg
Coming soon: your stories on facility fees
For months now, you’ve been sharing stories with us about facility fees, those sneaky fees that keep showing up on your medical bills. Facility fees are kind…
- An Arm and a Leg
Meet the Middleman’s Middleman
Folks who expected their health insurance to cover some out-of-network care have been getting stuck with enormous bills instead. Like one couple from Kansas…
- An Arm and a Leg
Staying on Medicaid seems tougher than it should be
We take our first look at Medicaid— the big, federally-funded health insurance program for folks with lower incomes— for two reasons: First, it’s a huge part…
- An Arm and a Leg
We’re digging into “facility fees.” We need your help.
We’re launching a brand new project and need your help! We’re zooming in on charges that are becoming more and more common on your medical bills: facility…
- An Arm and a Leg
The Hack
When a subsidiary of the giant UnitedHealth Group got hit by a cyberattack recently, a big chunk of the country’s doctors, pharmacists, hospitals and…
- An Arm and a Leg
Son of Medicare: Attack of the Machines
Reporter Bob Herman from STAT News unpacks his blockbuster investigation about the country’s biggest health care company. Covering the American health care…
- An Arm and a Leg
The Medicare Episode
Health insurance sucks. Which leaves lots of us counting down the days until we turn 65 and can get on Medicare – the federal government’s health insurance…
- An Arm and a Leg
Wait, is insulin cheaper now?
A listener wrote to us at the beginning of the year with a query, “I was just reading the news about the price of insulin going down to $35! Is that for…
- An Arm and a Leg
Self defense 101: Keeping your cool while you fight
Dealing with the American health care system as a patient means lots of tough moments – unexpected bills, meds not covered, insurance and hospitals making you…
- An Arm and a Leg
One last tip before 2024
Real quick: Now's the best time to support this show! Thanks to a few super-star Arm and a Leg listener/donors, your donation is matched two for one right now…
- An Arm and a Leg
When hospitals sue patients (part 2)
Hey! The BEST time to support this show with a donation just got even better. Right now, any gift you make, up to $1,000, will be matched TWO for ONE, thanks…
- An Arm and a Leg
When hospitals sue patients (part 1)
Hey, it’s the BEST time to support this show with a donation. Thanks to NewsMatch, any gift you make, up to $1,000, will be doubled. It’s a great deal, and it…