An unexpected hospital bill can bust the family budget. More and more Americans have health plans that require them to pony up a high deductible before insurance kicks in. That leaves lots of people with bills they can’t pay. Turns out, that’s a crisis for hospitals too, and some are getting creative about collecting debt.
A few years ago, a table saw accident sent woodworker Jim Crannell to the emergency room with a bloody gash in his finger. The pain was bad, and afterward Crannell was bracing for a ghastly medical bill, too. But at discharge, he got an offer that promised to ease his financial suffering.
Listen to find out what happened next on Season 2, Episode 2 of “An Arm and a Leg: A Podcast About the Cost of Health Care.”
Season 2 is a co-production of Kaiser Health News and Public Road Productions.
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Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
