‘An Arm and a Leg’: Can They Freaking Do That?!? (2023 Update)
The “An Arm and a Leg” podcast is back. This season, host Dan Weissmann will tell stories about patients finding creative ways to fight back against outrageous bills.
This first episode of Season 9 updates a story from 2019 about a listener who got a $35 bill from a medical testing lab she had never heard of. Soon a follow-up bill arrived demanding $1,300 if she didn’t pay right away.
This jump in price left her wondering: Can they freaking do that?!?
The answer: They can try. And they often get away with it.
But if patients have the time and moxie, they can propose a fair price and even take providers to court to force them to accept the counter offer.
The original version of this story covered a couple of topics the show has explored: Surprise bills (for which new legal protections were enacted in 2022) and how private equity has been expanding into health care and how some doctors are trying to fight back.
This is original content from Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit health newsroom whose stories appear in news outlets nationwide, is an editorially independent part of the Kaiser Family Foundation. It is reprinted here with permission.
