An Arm and a Leg

2021 is off to a rough start, but we've got a couple of small things that don't completely suck. First, a new federal rule could help cut through one completely-ridiculous issue. Then, a listener describes how he headed off an insurance nightmare, using what he learned from this show. Dan talked about the first story—a requirement that hospitals give us some information upfront about what a given service might cost us (after insurance, if we've got it)—in a short conversation with Niala Boodhoo for the daily-news podcast Axios Today. You'll find a LOT more detail on that rule in this story from reporter Celia Llopis-Jepsen: https://www.kmuw.org/post/you-now-have-right-know-your-hospitals-prices-and-heres-how-experts-hope-will-help (Celia's reporting about a $50,000 "air ambulance" ride formed the core of a recent episode about how we get squeezed by insurers on one side and providers on the other: https://armandalegshow.com/episode/financial-self-defense-school-now-in-session-make-your-own-luck/) Here's a transcript for this episode: https://armandalegshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Arm-and-a-Leg_S05-Ep01_Two-Small-Doses-of-Good-News_Transcript.pdf Send your stories and questions: https://armandalegshow.com/contact/ ... or call 724 ARM-N-LEG And of course we'd love for you to support this show:https://armandalegshow.com/support/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Former health-care executive Wendell Potter spent part of 2020 publishing high-profile apologies for the lies he says he told the American people in his old job—and trying to debunk the myths he once sold. The story of how he became a whistle-blower is a modern-day Christmas Carol. And it's a story about the long, messy process of change—whether that’s changing your own life or trying to change a bigger system. It’s a great way to close out a pretty-terrible year. Another cheerful note THANK YOU!!! Your support for this show has MAXED OUT the matching program NewsMatch. It’s a huge, huge boost for our work in 2021. Of course, we could still use your support before the year ends. There is SO much work ahead. AND, if you’re looking for other places to help out, here are a few places doing powerful work: - Remote Area Medical (https://www.ramusa.org) runs free pop-up clinics— and seeing one played a role in Wendell Potter’s move from Scrooge to whistle-blower. - Get Us PPE (https://getusppe.org/) helps front-line workers get the personal protective equipment they need to stay safe during the pandemic. (And yep, that is still a thing. Grrr…) - RIP Medical Debt (https://ripmedicaldebt.org) pools money to buy up old medical debt and forgive it. By doing bulk transactions, they can take a $5 donation and use it to discharge $500 in debt. (We featured their work in a 2019 episode: https://armandalegshow.com/episode/christmas-in-july-one-familys-tragedy-becomes-a-1-million-gift-to-their-neighbors/.) - MLK 50: Justice Through Journalism (https://mlk50.com/) does powerful investigative reporting. After they exposed how the biggest hospital in Memphis was suing patients over unpaid bills, the hospital was shamed into dropping thousands of lawsuits and erasing almost $12 million in debt. (https://armandalegshow.com/episode/a-hospital-sued-thousands-of-patients-then-a-reporter-called-them-out/) And of course it is absolutely not too late to support this show. Here’s that link: https://armandalegshow.com/support/ Send your stories and questions: https://armandalegshow.com/contact or call 724 ARM-N-LEG) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode turns the tables: Host Dan Weissmann gets interviewed about what he's learned this year, and what's ahead for the show— with T.K. Dutes, an ace radio host and podcast-maker ... who was a nurse in a previous life, so she knows a thing or two about the health-care system. (She chronicled her career transition in an episode of NPR's Life Kit.) And here we learn: During her nursing career, she was uninsured. She's got some stories about life before-and-after health insurance. T.K. also coins what could be a new tagline for this show: "Where there's money, there's going to be scams." Support us: During November and December 2020, your donation counts for DOUBLE, thanks to a campaign called NewsMatch. So cool. You can make a one-time donation OR make an ongoing monthly pledge. Here’s the link: https://armandalegshow.com/support/ Send your stories and questions: https://armandalegshow.com/contact/ or call 724 ARM-N-LEG See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 a lot more complicated. This stinks. You can hear my wife and me try to puzzle the whole thing out, and then I debrief with an expert. Who leaves me reminded how lucky we are to have the options we do. HEALTH INSURANCE SUCKS. But the alternative is so much worse. If you're trying to pick—or to figure out if you can afford insurance—we've got a bunch of resources on the web page for this episode: https://armandalegshow.com/my-family-picks-insurance Support us: During November and December 2020, your donation counts for DOUBLE, thanks to a campaign called NewsMatch. So cool. You can make a one-time donation OR make an ongoing monthly pledge. Here’s the link: https://armandalegshow.com/support/ Send your stories and questions: https://armandalegshow.com/contact/ or call 724 ARM-N-LEG See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 learns in real time, first on Twitter, then on his pandemic podcast "In the Bubble." When we wanted an episode taking a look at the big picture—what we've learned so far from the pandemic and what we might expect next—Andy was the person we wanted to talk to. And he said yes! We got into the money side of what we can expect with vaccines and testing, and treatment—which wasn’t always pretty but wasn't all bad news—and we ended up with some really big-picture questions about the profit motive in health care. Support us: During November and December 2020, your donation counts for DOUBLE, thanks to a campaign called NewsMatch. So cool. You can make a one-time donation OR make an ongoing monthly pledge. Here’s the link: https://armandalegshow.com/support/ Send your stories and questions: https://armandalegshow.com/contact/ or call 724 ARM-N-LEG We discussed the money side of what we can expect with vaccines and testing, and treatment—which wasn’t always pretty but wasn't all bad news—and we ended up with some really big-picture questions about the profit motive in health care. Support us: During November and December 2020, your donation counts for DOUBLE, thanks to a campaign called NewsMatch. So cool. You can make a one-time donation OR make an ongoing monthly pledge. Here’s the link: https://armandalegshow.com/support/ Send your stories and questions: https://armandalegshow.com/contact/ or call 724 ARM-N-LEG See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 to send in their COVID-testing bills. She's now seen hundreds of them, and she runs down for us the most common ways things can go sideways, and how to avoid them. Here's Sarah's NYT story that inspired this episode: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/upshot/coronavirus-surprise-bills-guide.html Support us: During November and December 2020, your donation counts for DOUBLE, thanks to a campaign called NewsMatch. You can make a one-time donation OR make an ongoing monthly pledge. Here's the link: https://armandalegshow.com/support/ Send your stories and questions: https://armandalegshow.com/contact or call 724 ARM-N-LE: See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Possibly our most-useful episode ever. A listener asked: How do I remain cool when calling insurance companies? We called a self-defense teacher—because self-defense is a lot more than hitting and kicking. It's about standing up for yourself in all kinds of difficult situations. Which means using your words. Lauren Taylor talks us through some of her top strategies, and how she used them this year in her own epic health-insurance fight. Support us: During November and December 2020, your donation counts for DOUBLE, thanks to a campaign called NewsMatch. So cool. You can make a one-time donation OR make an ongoing monthly pledge. Here's the link: https://armandalegshow.com/support/ Lauren Taylor talks us through some of her top strategies, and how she used them this year in her own epic health-insurance fight. Support us: During November and December 2020, your donation counts for DOUBLE, thanks to a campaign called NewsMatch. So cool. You can make a one-time donation OR make an ongoing monthly pledge. Here's the link: https://armandalegshow.com/support See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 using small claims court to get satisfaction, and he's got detailed instructions for all of us. Here's his first lesson: The other side—no matter how big they are, and no matter what they say to you—doesn't actually get to make the rules. Not the LEGAL rules. The details of how he got to victory in this case are super-entertaining, and super-satisfying. Support us: You can now make a one-time donation OR make an ongoing monthly pledge. AND: During November and December 2020, your donation counts for DOUBLE, thanks to a campaign called NewsMatch. So cool. Just click here to give: https://armandalegshow.com/support/ Want more detail on this whole small-claims-court strategy? Got you covered: - Some folks have used just the threat of small claims court to get outrageous bills lowered. You'll hear all about it in our 2019 episode Can They Freaking DO That?!?: https://armandalegshow.com/episode/can-they-freaking-do-that/ - Law professor Christopher Robertson describes some of the legal theory behind this approach in a Harvard Law School blog post: https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2017/10/03/medical-bills-are-open-price-contracts-a-victory-for-the-little-guy/ - Jeffrey Fox posted documents from his case, and a brief narrative:http://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Writeup-1.pdf - Finally, here's this episode's transcript: https://armandalegshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Arm-and-a-Leg-Transcript-S4-Ep07-David-v-Goliath-Published-Oct-29-2020.pdf Send your stories and questions: https://armandalegshow.com/contact/ or call 724 ARM-N-LEG See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 she's smart and funny.) We fact-checked her advice with a legal expert: Jenifer Bosco, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center. Who said: Yep, most of Shaunna's advice totally checks out. This one's full of useful tips—and it's fun— so please pass it around. Debt collectors are out in force, and as you'll hear in this episode, they can be super-unscrupulous. But, as you'll also learn: We've got rights. You don't need to have heard our earlier episode about Shaunna and her story; you can just start right here. (There's lots of strong language in both this and the previous Shaunna episode, so maybe save them for when the kids aren't around.) Meanwhile, here's a bunch of links to resources: The National Consumer Law Center, where Jenifer Bosco works, publishes the book Surviving Debt - There are chapters on medical debt, dealing with debt collectors, and what to do if you get sued - The book is updated every year - It's free to read online at https://library.nclc.org/sd Consumer-finance expert Gerri Detweiler, who helped fact-check one big question for this episode, has a VERY useful-looking site: https://www.debtcollectionanswers.com/ - She just published a new article with answers to questions like "Can medical bills be sent to collections if you're making payments?" (yep) and "How do I dispute a medical bill in collections? - There's another, more-general primer on medical debt/collections, also updated recently. - Gerri and co-author Mary Reed offer their e-book Debt Collection Answers as a free download. (It was published in 2015, so it may not be as up-to-date.) Shaunna's dealing-with-debt-collectors TikTok videos. We've got links at https://armandalegshow.com/handling-debt-collectors. (Be sure to note Jen Bosco's legal caveats, but these are great and will get you in a fighting spirit.) Send your stories and questions: https://armandalegshow.com/contact/ or call 724 ARM-N-LEG Support us: https://www.patreon.com/armandalegshow See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 that thousands of Gen-Z followers love. She's funny, smart, and relatable—and she's got stories that'll make your hair stand on end. (Yep, medical bills figure into some of them.) Oh, and she can swear like a f---ing sailor. So maybe save this one for when the kids aren't around. Send your stories and questions: https://armandalegshow.com/contact/ or call 724 ARM-N-LEG Support us: https://www.patreon.com/armandalegshow See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.