Hey there, here is something I don't think I've ever said on this show before.

This episode is about a big important piece of good news. I mean, I'm going to kind of ruin it

in a couple of minutes with a bunch of warnings, which I promise will be both important and useful,

but let's just enjoy this for right now. Starting January 1st of this year, so like right now,

a new federal law called the No Surprises Act protects us against what has been one of the most

outrageous experiences our healthcare system has to offer, which, you know, if you've been listening

to this show, or I don't know, just living in the US, let's really say in something.

We're talking about surprise bills, full name, surprise out of network bills, which go like this.

You go to a hospital, like do an emergency room or a surgery or to give birth,

and you make sure to pick a hospital that is in network for your insurance. I mean, of course,

you do, right? Except then, somebody gets involved in your care who doesn't work directly for

the hospital and who doesn't take your insurance. Surprise! You get a big out of network bill from

that. Your insurance doesn't cover much of it, and you're on the hook for the rest of whatever

wild amount is written on that dough. And a lot of times, this would be the kind of provider you

don't even pick for yourself, like an ER doc or an anesthesiologist or a radiologist. These bills

have been super, super common. The feds estimate that 10 million surprise bills go out every year,

an academic study said that one out of every five ER visits results in one. And frankly,

I have wondered if those numbers are lowballing things. But then a surprise sect says,

hey, guess what? This is no longer your problem. You're just going to pay whatever you would have

paid if this provider had been in networked. They will have to work out the rest with your insurance

company, but you are done. And this is a big honking deal. It puts a couple of episodes at the

show at a day. I'm going to record new interest for them one of these days. It's awesome. And

...