Category: An Arm and a Leg

An Arm and a Leg: How Do You Deal With Wild Drug Prices?

“An Arm and a Leg” is collecting stories for a new series about how Americans get the medicine they need when faced with sticker shock.

An Arm and a Leg: The ‘Shkreli Awards’ — For Dysfunction and Profiteering in Health Care

The Lown Institute, a health care think tank, holds a contest every year for the most outrageous stories of greed in health care.

An Arm and a Leg: A Listener Fighting the Good Fight

A medical resident who listens to “An Arm and a Leg” is pushing for change with the American Medical Association and at the hospital where he works.

An Arm and a Leg: Revisiting ‘Christmas In July’

From the archives of “An Arm and a Leg”: a family tragedy, a 40-year tradition, and a million dollars in medical debt erased.

An Arm and a Leg: New Lessons in the Fight for Charity Care

Host Dan Weissmann checks back in on the fight for hospital charity care, with lessons from Dollar For and a savvy listener.

An Arm and a Leg: Fight Health Insurance — With Help From AI

Meet the tech worker on a quest to use artificial intelligence to combat denials for coverage from patients’ health plans.

An Arm and a Leg: Can Racism Make You Sick? 

In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann sits down with KFF Health News’ Cara Anthony to talk about the documentary and podcast series she produced about the impact of a 1942 lynching and a 2020 police killing on a rural Missouri community. The project is called “Silence in Sikeston.”

An Arm and a Leg: ‘Baby Steps’ in the Fight Against Facility Fees

An extra $99 fee on top of a copay for a checkup didn’t sit right with a listener. Turns out, state legislators across the country aren’t buying it either.

An Arm and a Leg: Don’t Get ‘Bullied’ Into Paying What You Don’t Owe

In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann speaks with Caitlyn Mai, a woman in Oklahoma who received a six-figure bill for a surgery her insurance promised to cover. This episode is an extended version of the “Bill of the Month” series, produced in partnership with NPR.

An Arm and a Leg: The Woman Who Beat an $8,000 Hospital Fee

In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann speaks with Georgann Boatright, a patient in Mississippi who was willing to drive to another state to avoid paying a steep fee to her local hospital.