Hey there. A few weeks ago, I got invited to be a part of a conference by the American

Health Information Management Association. They're kind of like a trade group for healthcare

IT, I guess. This was a panel on affordability. Did you hear the air quotes there? They told

me, we can't pay you, which was good, because I don't take money from folks in healthcare.

But it's a chance to address industry insiders. And I was like, do I want to talk to industry

insiders? And I thought, well, I probably want to hear what they say to each other. There

were not any big revelations. And honestly, it was not that much fun. But I do think I

made a new friend, and she knows stuff, and she's sharing with us. This is an arm in a

leg, a show about the cost of healthcare. Dan Weissman, I'm a reporter, I like a challenge.

So my job on this show is to take one of the most enraging, terrifying, depressing parts

of American life, and give you something entertaining, empowering, and useful. We're on a break

from full episodes right now, but this little adventure is worth sharing.

A week before the conference, there's a planning call. We got a consultant, a lobbyist

from a hospital industry group, and a woman from a healthcare tech company. And I'm supposed

to be the voice of the consumer. And while I'm on the call, I'm thinking, this was a bad

idea. Other panelists are talking about how important it is to help consumers understand

their financial responsibility. And I'm thinking, yeah, how about helping people just

not get eaten alive? And somehow, in the middle of this talk about how patients just need

to get better informed about our financial responsibilities or how tech can help us become

smarter consumers. Every one of these people ends up talking about their own experience

that they're having right now, trying to figure out how much they're going to end up

paying for this medical service or that one, and how hard it is. They're basically commiserating.

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