An Arm and a Leg

An Arm and a Leg


Latest Episodes

How Katelyn survived COVID—without going bankrupt. (Not easy. She has tips.)
May 20, 2020

In early April, Katelyn was in a financial bind: Home sick with COVID, she hadn't been paid in weeks. And bills were due. "My landlord is kinda beating down my door right now," she said. She made it through—with with hard-won tips for a...

From inside the health insurance company: Angst, and advice we can use.
May 13, 2020

A listener, who has worked in health insurance for decades, wrote in. "I have listened to all the episodes in this podcast, and there are times I come away feeling bad working for the insurance company." We talked. She had useful advice for ...

The severe, weird recession... in health care. And what it means for our wallets
May 06, 2020

You've probably noticed: The U.S. economy is crashing. Something you may not have noticed, that may sound really weird: Almost half of that economic devastation comes from just one sector. And that sector? It's health care.

COVID tests are free, except... when they're not
April 29, 2020

Anna's insurance company said it would pay 100 percent for COVID-related testing. And then they left her to pay a giant bill. She got help, thanks to a viral tweet, but her story exposes big loopholes in consumer protections. We learn how not to f...

Like a fire with no one to call: 'We've left no latent capacity in health care.'
April 22, 2020

Ryan Gamlin spent a decade working on the financial side of health care, before going to medical school. Now, as an anesthesiologist in Los Angeles, he’s on the front lines fighting COVID-19, an experience he describes as “scary, in a way that I never ...

If I get COVID-19, what good will my insurance do me?
April 15, 2020

Lots of people have insurance plans that only cover them with certain places —providers, certain hospitals. But: in a COVID pandemic surge, who knows if you'd end up one of those places? And if you end up someplace else... then what?

Makers unite: Speeding PPE to a COVID hospital
April 06, 2020

We kick off SEASON-19, about the cost of COVID, with a dose of hope — a story about an unlikely chain of people coming together to speed PPE to a COVID hospital in Brooklyn. NYC is a couple weeks ahead of the rest of the country, we think, so there are...

Whoa. Welcome to SEASON-19
March 30, 2020

We were not expecting to bring the next season out for another couple months, but... STUFF has been happening. Is happening. We're here with you. Bring us your stories and your QUESTIONS: We'll ask the smartest people we know to tell us all w...

Reporter's Notebook: What we've learned so far, and what's ahead.
February 14, 2020

This bonus episode turns the tables: Ace reporter Sally Herships interviews Arm and a Leg host Dan Weissmann, about what he's learned so far, and what's ahead for the show. \They dig into the stories listeners are sharing -- the lessons peopl...

Watch Your Back: Outwitting the Back-Pain Industry
January 02, 2020

Cathryn Jakobson Ramin, an investigative reporter with a bad back, spent years researching the $100-billion back-pain industry. She found that the most commonly-prescribed treatments, including surgery, frequently do not work — and often leave people a...