CHICAGO, Ill. -- Americans fed up with the spiraling cost of healthcare can turn to a podcast for help learning “financial self-defense.”
“There's so many corners of [healthcare] to learn,” host and producer Dan Weissmann told CBS 6 from his studio near Chicago. “The big picture is really, really big. It's a sixth of our economy! That's pretty big.”
Now in its fourth season, An Arm & A Leg offers useful advice for picking a health insurance plan, avoiding surprise medical bills, and how to fight a big hospital bill in small claims court.
“I was like, ‘you know we what we need is self-defense,’” said Weissmann. “We need to be able to figure out together what do we do about this individually because the idea of taking it all on as a system is overwhelming. There's just too much of it. It's huge.”
Weissmann, whose credentials include work for well-known outlets such as Planet Money, and Chicago’s WBEZ, said the cavalry is not coming anytime soon. No matter which systemic overhaul you might favor, it will take many years to enact. In the meantime, we have to save ourselves and each other.
“Any day could bring a crazy diagnosis and a weird bill that you have no idea what to do about. As individuals, we need to start figuring out how to stand up for ourselves now.”
As daunting as the issues surrounding healthcare can be, listening to "An Arm & A Leg" can feel like a much needed deep breath. With tens of thousands of listeners, the episodes aim to connect people with similar stories and crowd-source solutions.
The show’s website describes American healthcare bluntly, while offering some humor and hope. “We may be screwed, but we’re together. And if we want to get even a little bit less-screwed, we need each other. If nothing else, we can be good company to each other.”
You can subscribe to "An Arm & A Leg" wherever you get your podcasts, or visit the show’s website.
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