If you need medical care, it's like you've entered a casino, playing for your financial life, with the deck stacked against you. Lucky for us, we get insight — and tips the dealer WON'T tell you— from ace reporter Celia Llopis-Jepsen.


To start with, she got an executive from a health-care company to talk honestly — maybe more honestly than he realized — about how his company and others are playing the game, when they send patients bills for huge amounts.


Here's what else she found, when she investigated an $80,000 bill one man got: For many COVID patients, including the guy in her story, lots of providers just aren't allowed to bill for more than insurance pays them.


Those are providers who took some of the $175 billion in bailout funds that Congress passed out in March. Don't expect your provider to just tell you. (That $80,000 bill did not include a footnote saying, "Once insurance pays us, you can forget all about this.") But if you get a bill for COVID treatment, you can make your own luck and look up the provider yourself. Because Celia found a government database where you can SEE if your provider took those funds.


We also like Celia's Expert tip sheet for pushing back against your medical bills.

... and her first big medical-bill story— A Kansan's $50k Medical Bill Shows That You Don't Always Owe What You're Charged— is packed with insight too.


Note: When this episode was first posted, our host mis-pronounced the first name of a man who received an $80,000 bill. He is Anil Garmalkar. The audio has been corrected.


We are bringing you these self-defense lessons every two weeks from here on out. That's thanks to direct support from listeners. We'd love for you to support us too: https://armandalegshow.com/support/

If you need medical care, it's like you've entered a casino, playing for your financial life, with the deck stacked against you. Lucky for us, we get insight — and tips the dealer WON'T tell you— from ace reporter <a href="https://www.kcur.org/people/celia-llopis-jepsen" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Celia Llopis-Jepsen</a>. To start with, she got an executive from a health-care company to talk honestly — maybe more honestly than he realized — about how his company and others are playing the game, when they send patients bills for huge amounts. Here's what else she found, when <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-07-21/what-it-took-for-this-coronavirus-patients-80-000-air-ambulance-charge-to-go-away" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">she investigated an $80,000 bill one man got</a>: For many COVID patients, including the guy in her story, lots of providers just aren't allowed to bill for more than insurance pays them. Those are providers who took some of the $175 billion in bailout funds that Congress passed out in March. Don't expect your provider to just tell you. (That $80,000 bill did not include a footnote saying, "Once insurance pays us, you can forget all about this.") But if you get a bill for COVID treatment, you can make your own luck and look up the provider yourself. Because Celia found a <a href="https://data.cdc.gov/Administrative/HHS-Provider-Relief-Fund/kh8y-3es6/data" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">government database where you can SEE if your provider took those funds</a>. We also like Celia's <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-05-26/expert-tip-sheet-for-pushing-back-against-your-medical-bills" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Expert tip sheet for pushing back against your medical bills</a>.... and her first big medical-bill story— <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-05-26/a-kansans-50k-medical-bill-shows-that-you-dont-always-owe-what-youre-charged" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Kansan's $50k Medical Bill Shows That You Don't Always Owe What You're Charged</a>— is packed with insight too. Note: When this episode was first posted, our host mis-pronounced the first name of a man who received an $80,000 bill. He is Anil Garmalkar. The audio has been corrected. We are bringing you these self-defense lessons every two weeks from here on out. That's thanks to direct support from listeners. We'd love for you to support us too: <a href="https://armandalegshow.com/support/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://armandalegshow.com/support/</a>

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.

An Arm and a Leg&nbsp;is a podcast about why health care costs so freaking much and what we can (maybe) do about it.
If you&rsquo;ve ever been surprised by a medical bill, you&rsquo;re in good company. But as our team of seasoned journalists has learned from years of reporting &mdash; you&rsquo;re not always helpless. We don&rsquo;t have all the answers, but we&rsquo;ll offer you tools and big picture insights with plenty of humor and heart.&nbsp;
An Arm and a Leg is co-produced with <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/">KFF Health News</a> and distributed in partnership with <a href="https://www.kuow.org/">KUOW</a>.
You can support An Arm and a Leg&nbsp;by donating at <a href="https://armandalegshow.com/support/">armandalegshow.com/support/</a>
<hr>
Show Credits:&nbsp;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.

An Arm and a Leg

If you need medical care, it's like you've entered a casino, playing for your financial life, with the deck stacked against you. Lucky for us, we get insight — and tips the dealer WON'T tell you— from ace reporter Celia Llopis-Jepsen....

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