Hey there. Today's episode takes us someplace this show has never gone before. Inside the Washington

D.C. Beltway, deep inside. One scene actually takes place inside the Oval Office,

and if you pay attention to politics at all, you will hear a couple of very familiar voices.

But it's not a familiar story. We're looking at how a single provision

landed in the humongous piece of legislation, the Affordable Care Act.

Given the absolutely enormous scope of that law, famously more than 900 pages,

this is a teensy, tiny provision. But it's one that we've talked about a fair amount on this show,

especially this year, because it turns out that it can be a super important tool for a lot of people

with medical bills that seem unpayable. Charity care, financial assistance, non-profit hospitals,

which is most hospitals in the U.S., are legally required to have charity care policies

to write off bills for folks whose incomes fall below a figure of the hospital sets.

I really only learned that early this year, along with millions of other people, thanks to a super

viral TikTok video. Spreading the word about that requirement has been making a difference to a

lot of people, and it's been kind of a highlight of my year to see it. And charity care policies

weren't always the law. They only became a requirement when it got written into the Affordable

Care Act, which could easily not have happened, because politically, in the context of the whole

Affordable Care Act drama, this was super duper obscure. It was not on the White House's radar.

Among the 535 members of Congress, it seems like there was exactly one legislator who actually

cared about it, and he made sure it happened. Even though you didn't actually vote for the bill,

and since Obamacare became law, he has voted to repeal it more than once.

This is an arm and a leg show about why health care costs so freaking much, and what we can maybe do

about it. I'm Dan Weissman. I'm a reporter and I like a challenge, so my job here is to take one

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