Lauren Bard’s little girl, Sadie, had a 50/50 chance of survival when she was born 14 weeks premature. Luckily, Lauren is a nurse at Dignity Health, a Catholic hospital, so she had good insurance and knew how to protect herself...or so she thought. Instead, she ended up with a $1.7 million dollar bill. Dr. Ashish Jha also joins David this week to help us figure out how the heck this happened.

 

Resources from the episode:
ProPublica article on Lauren’s journey, by journalist Marshall Allen from Ep. 3: https://www.propublica.org/article/how-one-employer-stuck-a-new-mom-with-a-bill-for-her-premature-baby

 

Keep up with David on twitter @CHIDavidSmith. 

 

Have you been hit with a surprise bill or had an infuriating run-in with the health care system? If you want to submit a patient story, email us at costofcare@lemonadamedia.com or leave us a voicemail at 833-453-6662. 

 

Support for this podcast comes from The Commonwealth Fund, a health care research foundation working to improve the U.S. health system. Visit commonwealthfund.org/costofcare, and stay connected by following us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Commonwealth Fund: Affordable, quality health care. For everyone.

 

You can click this link for a full list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows.

 

To follow along with a transcript and/or take notes for friends and family, go to https://www.lemonadamedia.com/show/thecostofcare/ shortly after the air date.

 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. 

Lauren Bard&rsquo;s little girl, Sadie, had a 50/50 chance of survival when she was born 14 weeks premature. Luckily, Lauren is a nurse at Dignity Health, a Catholic hospital, so she had good insurance and knew how to protect herself...or so she thought. Instead, she ended up with a $1.7 million dollar bill. <a href="https://twitter.com/ashishkjha?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Dr. Ashish Jha</a> also joins David this week to help us figure out how the heck this happened.
&nbsp;
Resources from the episode:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">ProPublica article on Lauren&rsquo;s journey, by journalist Marshall Allen from Ep. 3: <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-one-employer-stuck-a-new-mom-with-a-bill-for-her-premature-baby">https://www.propublica.org/article/how-one-employer-stuck-a-new-mom-with-a-bill-for-her-premature-baby</a></li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
Keep up with David on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/chidavidsmith?lang=en">@CHIDavidSmith</a>.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Have you been hit with a surprise bill or had an infuriating run-in with the health care system? If you want to submit a patient story, email us at <a href="mailto:costofcare@lemonadamedia.com">costofcare@lemonadamedia.com</a> or leave us a voicemail at 833-453-6662.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Support for this podcast comes from The Commonwealth Fund, a health care research foundation working to improve the U.S. health system. Visit <a href="http://commonwealthfund.org/costofcare">commonwealthfund.org/costofcare</a>, and stay connected by following us on <a href="https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fcommonwealthfnd&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cnl%40cmwf.org%7Cfacf8d77eb594c628c9f08d900f1b21e%7C48336ef9fe4e4d92832da244fd9b6f25%7C0%7C0%7C637541860334282820%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=prcdOcMotE3l0pB4VO41prFVe4R4FxOxRxM0AYCXuxE%3D&amp;reserved=0">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fcompany%2Fthe-commonwealth-fund%2F&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cnl%40cmwf.org%7Cfacf8d77eb594c628c9f08d900f1b21e%7C48336ef9fe4e4d92832da244fd9b6f25%7C0%7C0%7C637541860334292777%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=Xgh53Imo9U3xDsgycR6SWTlktEiiXvIR0HS3eHStm7k%3D&amp;reserved=0">LinkedIn</a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/advancinghealthequity/">Instagram</a>. Commonwealth Fund: Affordable, quality health care. For everyone.
&nbsp;
You can click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NEJFhcReE4ejw2Kw7ba8DVJ1xQLogPwA/view">this link</a> for a full list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows.
&nbsp;
To follow along with a transcript and/or take notes for friends and family, go to <a href="https://www.lemonadamedia.com/show/thecostofcare/">https://www.lemonadamedia.com/show/thecostofcare/</a> shortly after the air date.
&nbsp;
Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.&nbsp;

What's your life worth? Healthcare in the United States can bankrupt you, demoralize you—or actually kill you. Healthcare economist David Smith grew up in a Mormon community in Utah, and lost his father, sister, and brother to the same deadly epidemic. He’s spent his career exploring whether their deaths were preventable and how we can make health a priority for everyone. On The Cost of Care, David and his guests – patients, medical experts, and policy makers – reveal how the wealthiest nation on earth ended up with one of the most expensive, worst-performing health care systems in the world and provide solutions to fix it, together.

What's your life worth? Healthcare in the United States can bankrupt you, demoralize you—or actually kill you. Healthcare economist David Smith grew up in a Mormon community in Utah, and lost his father, sister, and brother to the same deadly epidemic. He’s spent his career exploring whether their deaths were preventable and how we can make health a priority for everyone. On The Cost of Care, David and his guests – patients, medical experts, and policy makers – reveal how the wealthiest nation on earth ended up with one of the most expensive, worst-performing health care systems in the world and provide solutions to fix it, together.

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