An Arm and a Leg

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 $50, we get $150.  It’s awesome!  Donate right here .  Thanks! This wild history lesson couldn’t be more timely. As we publish — two days after the 2026 midterms — candidates pushing “...

Charity care — financial assistance that nonprofit hospitals are required to offer — is one of the most powerful tools we have to avoid medical debt. But for too many people, that help is hidden.  The journalists at the podcast Tradeoffs teamed up with our colleagues at KFF Health News to look at what happened when a new state law in Oregon brought charity care out of the shadows,...

By October 1, at least two million seniors will get alarming notices: Their health plans — which they got through Medicare Advantage, the version of Medicare run by private insurance companies — will disappear at the end of the year.   Many of them will be stuck without a lot of options. In some cases, no other companies in their area may offer Medicare Advantage plans to rep...

Employer-sponsored health insurance covers 165.6 million Americans. It’s the default. For lots of workers, it’s a key reason to accept a job offer, or to stay in a job.   But that system is slowly imploding. As premiums have grown explosively — the average employer plan now prices out at $27,000 for family coverage — businesses have passed more costs onto their wo...

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, available to everybody, with or without insurance?  We’ve got one, says Dr. Ricardo Nuila. It’s where he works.   And it could be a model for the whole country. Yes, really.  That’s the pitch he made in his...

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 Heath News Chief Washington Correspondent Julie Rover to help give us — and you —  a big picture look at what some changes would mean .  A year-and-change later, we wanted to check back in. We talk about the “...

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 coming in, burying their family in medical debt. But Teressa’s a fighter, and an organized one at that — ready to endure months of back and forth until she stumbled on a "secret door" to reversing her husband’s insurance denial...

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, we set out on a mission: Collect all the best advice about what to do when your prescription drugs cost more than you can afford.  Our listeners wrote to us about their experiences getting around this most demoralizing — and...

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 to tech middlemen like BetterHelp and Headway that promise to take care of the insurance admin and match them with patients.  And these companies are sometimes recording and transcribing your sessions — and then turning arou...

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 could impact how much you ultimately pay for prescription drugs.  Here’s why the case matters: As soon as a generic version of a brand-name drug comes to market, its price typically drops by half. Within 10 years, by more than 75...

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 our reporting over the years, like our stories on insulin and tuberculosis drugs , experts cited one big reason over and over again:  The pharmaceutical industry wages sophisticated legal battles to keep monopoly control ove...

This year, the price of health insurance increased dramatically for millions of people. Tens of millions. Obamacare subsidies shrunk, and premiums skyrocketed.  People asked themselves: how on earth am I supposed to make this work?  Two of those folks — attorney Nicole Wipp and skate-shop owner Noah Hulsman — tell the story of how they chose among lousy options. Nicole chose...

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 community that’s using this show — and about what’s working for you and what you’d like to see. Let us know! Today we’re switching it up. We’re sharing an episode from the new podcast  Drug Story . In...

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 reeling.  Insurance was denying prior authorization for the surgery. The only way forward would be to appeal the decision. But it was Saturday night, and the surgery was Monday morning. There wouldn’t be any time. Should they eve...

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 crush medical debt by tapping into “charity care” — the financial assistance that hospitals are legally required to offer some patients.  Their work represents what a small, scrappy, thoughtful group of people can do. Las...

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 little bit counts. Here’s where you can chip in.  Thank you SO much! Our listeners have been teaming up on an incredible project – kicked off earlier this year by a med student named Thomas Sanford.&nbsp...

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 another look at things that – believe it or not – did NOT suck in 2025.  Specifically: new state laws from around the country aimed at protecting people from things like medical debt, insurance delays and denials, and co...

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 ahead in 2026. Donate here — and get your money matched two-for-one. It’s probably fair to say: this is the worst year ever for picking health insurance. Premiums are skyrocketing – whether you get...

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 ahead in 2026. Head to https://armandalegshow.com/support/ to donate — and get your money matched two-for-one. This statement might shock you: some actual good things happened in 2025. Or, at least things that...

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 average American: runaway hospital prices and rising health insurance premiums. (You know, Arm and a Leg stuff.)  And she’s developed a strategy for addressing high insurance premiums – one based on a real-life success story...

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 we’ve seen all year. With input from the Arm and a Leg community — specifically folks who get our First Aid Kit newsletter — Thomas has drafted a one-page handout, packed with resources for anyone who needs help with medic...

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 from KFF Health News reads: “ Insurers and customers brace for double whammy to Obamacare premiums .” We break down what those “whammies” might mean in dollars and cents for Emily and the millions of others signing...

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, this week.  If you haven’t chipped in before, this is a great time — just click here . OK, onwards… Sharing a favorite from our archive – with lessons that are as relevant as ever.  Laurie Todd calls herself...

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 long for them to realize they'd been “hustled” – ending up with bills for thousands of dollars, and leaving them no choice but to skip important medical care.  In their series “Health Care Hustlers,” B...

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 — we’re stepping back to look at the big picture.  From the start of this podcast, we’ve been trying to answer a major question: Why do my meds cost so freaking much? And we’ve highlighted the profit-seeking games that insura...