The 10 Best An Arm and a Leg Podcast Episodes
1) How one drug got its $500,000 price tag. (With 99 Percent Invisible– Season One, episode 3)
The answer involves a suburban housewife, a 1970s TV star, and a Las Vegas maker of popcorn and nacho cheese sauce. Also: Wall Street.Produced with our friends at 99 Percent Invisible.Many thanks to A...Show More
2) This hospital sued thousands of patients — until a reporter called them out.
They say the problem with relying on journalists to embarrass providers into caving on crazy bills is, there aren’t enough journalists to go around. Fair. But sometimes journalists can scale up.I...Show More
3) A place where they do health care more cheaply and effectively. (And yes, it’s in the U.S.)
For our Season 2 finale, time for some inspiration.For 30 years, James Gingerich has run a super-effective clinic in Indiana, delivering great results at low cost — to high-need, low-income patients.J...Show More
4) Can they freaking DO that?!?
A woman got a bill from a medical testing lab she’s never heard of, for $35. Then, a follow-up bill said if she didn’t pay up right away, that price was going up — WAY up: to $1,287.Which raises a que...Show More
5) Why can't they tell you the price upfront?
Sarah Macsalka has seen the stories about how expensive an emergency room visit can be, even for a minor complaint.So when her seven year-old son Cameron gashed his knee on a weekend morning in June, ...Show More
6) Mom vs. Texas
Stephanie Wittels Wachs has a daughter born with hearing loss, which is how she found out insurance didn't cover hearing aids for kids. Those start at $6,000 and only last a few years. Stephanie teame...Show More
7) This is Water, and it sucks. Let’s talk. (Season One, episode 1)
When I first started talking about doing a show about the cost of health care… everybody had a story. Including me.It’s like that famous speech by the writer David Foster Wallace called This is Water....Show More
This is Water, and it sucks. Let’s talk. (Season One, episode 1)
19:58 | Nov 14th, 2018
1 recommendation
8) A podcast about the cost of health care, coming November 2018
The spiraling cost of medical care shapes people’s lives: The jobs we’re afraid to leave because of insurance, the risk that a trip to the doc could end in bankruptcy. It’s not healthy.This is my stor...Show More
9) All the Marbles: One woman’s epic quest for health insurance (Season One, episode 2)
Laura Derrick takes a drug that costs more than $500,000 a year.So when her family was going to lose their insurance, she made crazy sacrifices… and changed the course of history.Find Us OnlineWebsite...Show More
10) Why you (and I) will likely pick the wrong health-insurance plan (Season One, episode 4)
Because as smart economists recently proved) it is super-confusing, and most of us can’t do the math.But! We found glimmers of hope. So don’t be scared.We’d like to hear how you’re choosing your healt...Show More