Flightless Bird: Healthcare

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Armchair Umbrella

Tv & Film, Music, Comedy

4.6 • 68.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2022

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on Flightless Bird, David sets out to make sense of the very confusing American healthcare system. Joined by Monica, he tries to figure out why some Americans end up paying their own ambulance bill and why over half of the American population is riddled with medical debt. David talks to Luke O’Neil - the journalist and writer behind the popular newsletter "Welcome to Hellworld" - about why it falls on children to raise money for their parent's medical bills and discovers why in the US healthcare system teeth are considered “luxury bones”.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm David Farrier, a New Zealander who ended up accidentally marooned in America, and I
0:05.9	want to grasp what makes this country tick.
0:08.8	LA is not built for walking.
0:10.8	I've never been more aware of my own mortality than when strolling here in the city of angels.
0:16.7	I mean, there are places that don't even have a sidewalk.
0:19.6	You just walk along the road, praying you don't get hit by a car.
0:24.4	At every crosswalk, an angry line of cars threatens to run me down.
0:28.9	When looking death in the face got me thinking.
0:31.3	I got me thinking about the cost of my life, the cost of keeping my life and keeping my
0:36.9	body intact.
0:37.9	I got me thinking about the American healthcare system.
0:41.6	A recent survey finds Americans have collectively borrowed about $88 billion to cover doctor
0:47.9	and hospital bills.
0:48.9	Bills that can be confusing or even come as a shock.
0:52.9	The system here terrifies me.
0:55.5	See in New Zealand, it's a user pay system.
0:58.1	Our taxes go towards free healthcare for all.
1:01.2	But here in the US, over half of Americans have medical debt.
1:05.8	A quarter, 10 grand or more in medical bills.
1:09.6	So all around 300 million Americans have health insurance, 30 million don't.
1:15.0	And sometimes having health insurance doesn't help all that much.
1:18.9	This is crazy to me.
	...

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