Public Health

‘An Arm and a Leg’: How to Avoid the Worst Health Insurance

Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen.

Click here for a transcript of the episode.

This episode kicks off with a wild ride: How one journalist nearly got roped into a scam.

While hunting for a new health insurance plan, award-winning journalist Mitra Kaboli got an offer that seemed too good to be true — and seemed to be coming from her current insurer. She was skeptical and, it turns out, had every reason to be. Dania Palanker of Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms unpacks this sketchy scheme and gives us the key to avoiding it: When you’re searching for health insurance, skip Google. Seriously.

Then, top health insurance nerds teach us the right way to shop for health insurance: where to find the fine print and how to read it.

They also deliver some good news (for once): The subsidies in the American Rescue Plan ensure that some deals this year are actually … deals! Meaning: Health insurance has become more affordable for lots of people.

To read all of those tips in one place, check out “First Aid Kit,” a newsletter in which we sum up all the practical stuff we’ve been learning since “An Arm and a Leg” podcast launched. 

“An Arm and a Leg” is a co-production of KHN and Public Road Productions.

To keep in touch with “An Arm and a Leg,” subscribe to the newsletter. You can also follow the show on Facebook and Twitter. And if you’ve got stories to tell about the health care system, the producers would love to hear from you.

To hear all KHN podcasts, click here.

And subscribe to “An Arm and a Leg” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, StitcherPocket Casts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

We encourage organizations to republish our content, free of charge. Here’s what we ask:

You must credit us as the original publisher, with a hyperlink to our khn.org site. If possible, please include the original author(s) and “Kaiser Health News” in the byline. Please preserve the hyperlinks in the story.

It’s important to note, not everything on khn.org is available for republishing. If a story is labeled “All Rights Reserved,” we cannot grant permission to republish that item.

Have questions? Let us know at [email protected]

Related Articles