‘Not workable’: How two Americans picked a plan this year — or didn’t
An Arm and a Leg
An Arm and a Leg
4.8 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This year, the price of health insurance increased dramatically for millions of people. Tens of millions. Obamacare subsidies shrunk, and premiums skyrocketed.
People asked themselves: how on earth am I supposed to make this work?
Two of those folks — attorney Nicole Wipp and skate-shop owner Noah Hulsman — tell the story of how they chose among lousy options.
Nicole chose to dump health insurance altogether — even though she could have found a way to pay for it. Noah chose to pay for coverage that sucks, because it’s all he can afford.
Each made their choice in the context of their broader stories: Noah is deeply rooted in Louisville, KY, and lives about a mile from where his grandmother started Louisville’s first skate shop, around the time he was born.
Nicole’s story includes an expensive, life-threatening medical adventure a decade ago — and a series of choices that’s taken her family from Michigan to Hawaii to South Carolina.
Reporters with KFF Health News have been talking with dozens of people all over the country about these kinds of choices for their series on the health insurance crisis, Priced Out. KFF Health News senior correspondent Renuka Rayasam, who introduced us to Nicole and Noah after writing about their stories, joins us to reflect on what these stories mean.
Read more of Renuka Rayasam’s reporting:
When Health Insurance Costs More Than the Mortgage
It’s 2026 and You’re Uninsured. Now What?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Soundside brings you beyond the headlines with news and conversation rooted in the Pacific Northwest. |
| 0:07.5 | I'm Libby Dankman. Every week I sit down with local journalists for SoundSide's front page, |
| 0:12.6 | where we give you a shortcut to understanding the latest news and cultural moments and how they affect us here in the Puget Sound region. |
| 0:19.8 | It's all here on Sound Side, on the radio or streaming Monday through Thursday at noon and 8 p.m. |
| 0:25.1 | on KUOW, on the KUOW app, or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:30.9 | Music festivals and fan conventions, art walks, author events, and reading parties. |
| 0:36.6 | The next few months are amazing for arts and culture |
| 0:39.2 | in the Seattle area. And every week, KUOW's Arts and Culture podcast, Meet Me Here, will give |
| 0:45.3 | you the inside scoop. From inspired recommendations to surprising chats with artists, you'll |
| 0:51.3 | discover what's truly special about Seattle's creative communities. |
| 0:55.6 | Listen to meet me here on the KUOW app or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 1:00.4 | Hey there. |
| 1:01.5 | About a dozen years ago, Nicole Wip was trying to spend less time running her law firm and more time with her son who was in preschool. |
| 1:09.8 | It was a work in progress. |
| 1:11.8 | And then she started feeling a little off, tired, out of breath. |
| 1:18.3 | Her doctor thought it was stress, and Nicole didn't think so, but she just soldiered on |
| 1:23.3 | and got worse for months. |
| 1:26.5 | Until one day when she told her husband she just couldn't get off the couch, |
| 1:31.3 | he was like, you're going to urgent care. |
| 1:34.1 | And there, an x-ray showed her whole left lung, like totally blacked out. |
| 1:41.1 | Next stop, emergency room. |
| 1:42.9 | They put a huge needle and shoved it into my back and drew out two |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from An Arm and a Leg, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of An Arm and a Leg and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.