An Arm and a Leg

An Arm and a Leg
  • 4.8 (1.1K)
  • DOCUMENTARY
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

An Arm and a Leg is a podcast about why health care costs so freaking much and what we can (maybe) do about it. If you’ve ever been surprised by a medical bill, you’re in good company. But as our team of seasoned journalists has learned from years of reporting — you’re not always helpless. We don’t have all the answers, but we’ll offer you tools and big picture insights with plenty of humor and heart.  An Arm and a Leg is co-produced with KFF Health News and distributed in partnership with KUOW. You can support An Arm and a Leg by donating at armandalegshow.com/support/ Show Credits: Created, hosted, and produced by Dan Weissmann with senior producer Emily Pisacreta and engagement producer Claire Davenport, edited by Ellen Weiss. Audio wizard: Adam Raymonda. Music is by Dave Weiner and Blue Dot Sessions. Bea Bosco is our consulting director of operations. Lynne Johnson is our operations manager.

  1. 2D AGO

    Our favorite project of 2025 levels up – and you can help

    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.  The idea: create a list of reliable resources to help with medical expenses and avoid debt, and circulate it where people might find it useful, like hospital waiting rooms.  In this episode, we hear how that project is ready to level up – and how you can bring it to people in your community.  Here’s how to help:  Send this link to anyone you think might need it: armandalegshow.com/help  Or go here to print it out, post it, pass it around, customize it for your community, or join with other volunteers: armandalegshow.com/helpers  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    15 min

  2. 12/11/2025

    Some more things that didn’t suck in 2025

    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 corporate profiteering.   In this episode, we dive into two examples from opposite sides of the country to look at how laws like these get made – and in some cases, defended.  In Maine, lawmakers unanimously voted to remove medical debts from people’s credit reports. While a nationwide court ruling raises questions about the new law’s future, we’ll hear why consumer rights attorney Chi Chi Wu remains optimistic.   And in Oregon, a law aims to prevent big corporations and private equity firms from taking over medical clinics and strip-mining them for profits. Plus, a good-news update from our team at An Arm and a Leg.  Here's a transcript of this episode.  Send your stories and questions! Or call 724 ARM-N-LEG. And, again… we’d love for you to support this show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    32 min

  3. 11/20/2025

    How to pick health insurance — in the worst year ever

    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 insurance through work or from the Obamacare marketplace.  And with enhanced subsidies almost definitely expiring, millions of people with Obamacare plans are grappling with drastic changes to their household budgets.  We’re our own case study: You’ll hear us sorting through our own options. None of them are pretty, but because we know how to read the fine print, we figured out: Some are way, way less awful than others.  And to help you do the same: We’ve boiled down our fine-print-reading expertise in this starter pack on how to pick insurance.  Also in this episode: we talk with a listener who wonders: is paying for health insurance even worth it at this point? (Her ultimate answer: Yes, but argh.) Read Julie Appleby’s reporting for KFF Health News about what could happen if Congress changes course and extends the subsidies.  Here’s a transcript of this episode.  Send your stories and questions! Or call 724 ARM-N-LEG. And, again… we’d love for you to support this show.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    30 min

  4. 11/06/2025

    Some things that didn’t suck in 2025 (really)

    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 did not totally suck.  Stuff like: new limits on the hoops insurance companies can make you jump through, and new protections from predatory debt collectors..   These are just a couple examples of what state governments have been up to this year – in red, blue, and purple states alike.  State governments can’t do it all, but across a couple of episodes, we’ll dive into a handful of meaningful wins, and learn how they came to pass.  Today’s episode takes us to Nebraska, where the state passed aggressive new restrictions on prior authorization.  And Virginia, where lawmakers banned wage garnishment for lots of medical debts. Here's a transcript of this episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    24 min

  5. 10/23/2025

    This health economist wants your medical bills

    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. So when she asked us to help her gather data for a new study, we were intrigued. We break down Vivian’s theory of change, and how sharing your medical bills with her team could help build a data arsenal for the fight ahead.  Want to share your documents with Vivian and her team?  You can find all details about how to send them here.   Here’s a transcript of this episode. Send your stories and questions! Or call 724 ARM-N-LEG. Of course we’d love for you to support this show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    20 min

  6. 10/09/2025 · BONUS

    We love this listener’s project — and your response

    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 medical bills. It’s ready for you to use, and he wants your help making it better.  You’ll hear all about Thomas’s story — he’s a medical resident, who started out just wanting something to hand to his own patients — in today’s mini-episode. And now you can get involved. Thomas’s current version is great — and there’s also tons of room to improve it, with your help. Print out the current version and pass it around: Download it right here. Make suggestions for the next version: Anybody can comment on this Google doc. Volunteer to pitch in: Got design skills? Editorial chops? Language skills, to translate it? Other ideas?  Here’s a sign-up form. And you can make your own adaptations! Thomas has registered it with a Creative Commons license.  This project has been incubating in our First Aid Kit newsletter. If you’re not subscribed, this is a great time to sign up.  Here’s a transcript of this episode.  Send your stories and questions! Or call 724 ARM-N-LEG. Of course we’d love for you to support this show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    11 min

  7. 09/18/2025

    Will we be able to afford insurance in 2026?

    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 up for Obamacare in 2026.   Plus, we cover what’s happening with ACA navigators – the people charged with helping you sign up for Obamacare, and what to expect in November when open enrollment kicks off.   Learn more about what’s coming in 2026 in our First Aid Kit newsletter.  Check out KFF’s Obamacare premium calculator.  Learn whether your state funds its own navigator program.  Read a transcript of this episode. Send your stories and questions! Or call 724 ARM-N-LEG. Of course we’d love for you to support this show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    29 min

  8. 08/28/2025

    The Insurance Warrior battles a $61 billion company (from 2021)

    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 The Insurance Warrior. She fights health insurance for a living. Her speciality: writing appeals when insurance companies deny high-stakes, high-dollar treatments. Her first victory was fighting to get coverage for her own life-saving cancer surgery – which we chronicled in an episode tracing her origin story.  Since then, she says she’s notched hundreds of other victories, and outlined her strategies in two books: Fight Your Health Insurer and Win and APPROVED: Win Your Insurance Appeal in 5 Days. In this episode, we go deep on one of Laurie’s early, super-instructive cases, that taught Laurie one of the weirder truths about health insurance in America: fighting your health insurance often means fighting… your employer.  And in this case, that employer was a $61 billion company.  Want more about winning insurance appeals? Here’s our starter pack. Here is a transcript of this episode.  Send your stories and questions. Or call 724 ARM-N-LEG. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    24 min
See All (158)

Trailers

4.8
out of 5
1,087 Ratings

About

An Arm and a Leg is a podcast about why health care costs so freaking much and what we can (maybe) do about it. If you’ve ever been surprised by a medical bill, you’re in good company. But as our team of seasoned journalists has learned from years of reporting — you’re not always helpless. We don’t have all the answers, but we’ll offer you tools and big picture insights with plenty of humor and heart.  An Arm and a Leg is co-produced with KFF Health News and distributed in partnership with KUOW. You can support An Arm and a Leg by donating at armandalegshow.com/support/ Show Credits: Created, hosted, and produced by Dan Weissmann with senior producer Emily Pisacreta and engagement producer Claire Davenport, edited by Ellen Weiss. Audio wizard: Adam Raymonda. Music is by Dave Weiner and Blue Dot Sessions. Bea Bosco is our consulting director of operations. Lynne Johnson is our operations manager.

Information

  • Creator
    An Arm and a Leg
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2025
  • Episodes
    158
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 An Arm and a Leg
  • Show Website
    An Arm and a Leg

You Might Also Like