Mini-episode: Two small doses of good news

An Arm and a Leg

Society & Culture, Medicine, Health, Health & Fitness, Documentary

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2021

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

2021 is off to a rough start, but we've got a couple of small things that don't completely suck.

First, a new federal rule could help cut through one completely-ridiculous issue. Then, a listener describes how he headed off an insurance nightmare, using what he learned from this show.

Dan talked about the first story—a requirement that hospitals give us some information upfront about what a given service might cost us (after insurance, if we've got it)—in a short conversation with Niala Boodhoo for the daily-news podcast Axios Today.

You'll find a LOT more detail on that rule in this story from reporter Celia Llopis-Jepsen (whose reporting about a $50,000 "air ambulance" ride formed the core of a recent episode about how we get squeezed by insurers on one side and providers on the other).

Here's a transcript for this episode.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there. This was just going to be a super quick, happy new year episode to say, hey, happy new year.
0:06.7	We are taking a few weeks to map out some of the stories we'll be doing over the next few months.
0:10.6	I've already got a list. It's going to be super fun. But, whoa, this new year is off to a not especially
0:19.4	happy start. The events in our nation's capital have understandably just about knocked the coronavirus off the front page
0:27.0	and that's even though the pandemic is as bad as it has ever been and heading in the absolute wrong direction. So happy new year may not be the
0:36.6	message I'm leading with here. More like, how you doing? You hanging in there, okay?
0:43.0	And I've got two other things.
0:45.0	One is, since the year started, I've had a chance to dig through my inbox a little more.
0:50.0	It's possible I'd fallen a little behind.
0:52.0	And some of what I'm seeing is really nice, encouraging, useful.
0:58.4	So I've got one of those notes to share with you.
1:01.4	And before that, on the first working day of the year, I woke up to a message
1:05.7	from one of my very favorite people, Naila Boodoo. She is a public radio colleague from way back who now hosts a really great daily news podcast from the news website
1:15.5	Axios. Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. It is 10 really smart, really useful minutes a day.
1:24.0	And this was an invite to talk with her about a little federal reform that took effect on January 1st.
1:29.0	I thought you might like to hear the three minute segment that came from our conversation. We've expanded it here just a bit. I should say you will hear me throw a little cold water on the idea that this reform is going to solve all our problems. Big surprise, right? And now here is Nyla segment from the
1:45.2	podcast Axios today.
1:47.0	In 2021, the start of a new year also means a new rule for hospitals around the country.
1:55.0	Usually they keep rates they've negotiated with insurers secret, but now hospitals will have to post prices online for every single service, drug, and supply they provide.
2:04.8	In theory, this is supposed to make comparing prices for the same services at different hospitals
2:10.0	easier for consumers, but the reality is far more nuanced. Dan Weissman hosts a
2:15.2	podcast about the cost of health care called an arm and a leg and he is here to
	...

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