The United States spends more on health care than any other country on earth. Most health care products in the U.S. cost at least twice what other countries pay, sometimes up to ten times as much. And everyday Americans are often left footing the bill, grappling with sky-high premiums and medical debt. Clare tells Teo how the forces in our health care system keep costs high, and what you can do about the (possibly giant) number at the bottom of your next medical bill. 

We want to answer your questions about how our world works! Click here to submit a question using our online form, or email the team at ControlF@kuow.org

Support the show by supporting our home, KUOW Public Radio in Seattle.

Sources in this episode:
The Insane Things Hospitals Can Charge You for When you Give Birth, Vice, 2018
Health Care Costs and Affordability, Kaiser Family Foundation, 2025
Health costs associated with pregnancy, childbirth, and infant care, Peterson-KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) Health System Tracker, 2025
Utah Dad Posts Hospital Bill With Nearly $40 Fee for Skin-to-Skin Contact After Son's Birth, ABC News, 2016
As Americans Struggled, Health Insurers Made a Record-Breaking $71.3 Billion in Profits, Wendell Potter on Substack, 2025
Health Care Debt In The U.S.: The Broad Consequences Of Medical And Dental Bills, Kaiser Family Foundation, 2022
The Marshall Allen Project
Cost Data from the British Columbia Ministry of Health
Interview with Gerard Anderson, Johns Hopkins Professor of Health Policy and Management
Trump struck deals with 16 drug companies. But they're still raising prices this year, NPR, 2026

The United States spends more on health care than any other country on earth. Most health care products in the U.S. cost at least twice what other countries pay, sometimes up to ten times as much. And everyday Americans are often left footing the bill, grappling with sky-high premiums and medical debt. Clare tells Teo how the forces in our health care system keep costs high, and what you can do about the (possibly giant) number at the bottom of your next medical bill.&nbsp;
We want to answer your questions about how our world works! <a href="https://forms.office.com/r/4nGSfCuAML">Click here</a> to submit a question using our online form, or email the team at ControlF@kuow.org
Support the show by supporting our home, <a href="https://www.kuow.org/donate/control-f-notes">KUOW Public Radio</a> in Seattle.
Sources in this episode:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/giving-birth-hidden-hospital-costs/">The Insane Things Hospitals Can Charge You for When you Give Birth</a>, Vice, 2018</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/health-policy-101-health-care-costs-and-affordability/?entry=table-of-contents-how-do-high-health-costs-affect-affordability-of-care">Health Care Costs and Affordability</a>, Kaiser Family Foundation, 2025</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/health-costs-associated-with-pregnancy-childbirth-and-postpartum-care/">Health costs associated with pregnancy, childbirth, and infant care</a>, Peterson-KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) Health System Tracker, 2025</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://abcnews.com/Health/utah-dad-posts-hospital-bill-40-fee-skin/story?id=42585001">Utah Dad Posts Hospital Bill With Nearly $40 Fee for Skin-to-Skin Contact After Son's Birth</a>, ABC News, 2016</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://healthcareuncovered.substack.com/p/as-americans-struggled-health-insurers">As Americans Struggled, Health Insurers Made a Record-Breaking $71.3 Billion in Profits</a>, Wendell Potter on Substack, 2025</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/kff-health-care-debt-survey/">Health Care Debt In The U.S.: The Broad Consequences Of Medical And Dental Bills</a>, Kaiser Family Foundation, 2022</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.marshallallenproject.org/">The Marshall Allen Project</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Cost Data from the British Columbia Ministry of Health</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with <a href="https://publichealth.jhu.edu/faculty/11/gerard-anderson">Gerard Anderson</a>, Johns Hopkins Professor of Health Policy and Management</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/01/16/nx-s1-5678915/trumprx-pharma-drug-price-deals-list-prices">Trump struck deals with 16 drug companies. But they're still raising prices this year</a>, NPR, 2026</li>
</ul>

Control F is a podcast about data — hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data — and all the ways it influences our daily lives. In each episode, we dig deep on a topic and search through research, algorithms, and assumptions to bring you insights on how stuff works. In a world ruled by numbers, Control F reads between the (spreadsheet) lines to find the bigger story.

Control F is a podcast about data &mdash; hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data &mdash; and all the ways it influences our daily lives. In each episode, we dig deep on a topic and search through research, algorithms, and assumptions to bring you insights on how stuff works. In a world ruled by numbers, Control F reads between the (spreadsheet) lines to find the bigger story.

Control F is a podcast about data — hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data — and all the ways it influences our daily lives. 

Control F

Healthcare costs are higher in the United States than any other country, thanks to a complex system of healthcare providers, insurers and patients that keep prices high. 