As one of many Americans who lost sleep over the growing crisis of healthcare costs, medical debt and medical bankruptcy, I have found this podcast an invaluable God-sent. It starts out, across multiple seasons, describing and contextualizing the American healthcare system’s challenges which lead to such high cost and profit as well as its growing predatory practices. It then goes a productive step further to articulate what we as citizens can do to protect ourselves and advocate for systemic change. This reporting has both heightened my understanding and sense of hope and agency. I cannot recommend this podcast enough!

It’s hard to believe a show about healthcare in the US can be uplifting and informative, but Dan Weisman has done it! I learn so much about what I should be prepared for when dealing with my insurance and what I, as an individual, can even do. Absolutely love this podcast.

This is my top health policy pod - it’s the best at making things reachable, relatable, and recharging for the fight for better health care and making a difference for the people. I’ve used the skills to help advocate for myself, family members, and friends. 100% Recommend!

I often find myself getting choked up listening to the show - when I was 22 I experienced a bit of a mysterious medical situation in post-Katrina New Orleans. What followed was tens of thousands of dollars of medical bills (despite being insured), and most memorably a collection agent yelling at me over the phone, “you are not a child.” That was true, I was 22 and had a job making $7.50/hour and had lost my rented home in a flood only a couple months before. The hope that Dan’s work on this podcast, as well as those guests who are working towards the same goals could prevent people from the stress and trauma of medical debt makes it one of the best shows on my feed.

Another scenario for the pre-pay gig … you’ll get a discount if you pre-pay the estimated deductible. It’s a big ripoff racket. Just found this podcast and love it.

I have listened so some episodes more than once and shared with many clients. So helpful and educational and hopefully will help change the US medical system for the better.

I really love this podcast, especially the later episodes as they start to present practical information from experts and summaries of actual fights over coverage. Many of the tips, such as your rights when dealing with bill collectors, should be part of basic financial literacy but aren’t widely known. Unlike many podcasts, this one has no filler - if there is an interview, you hear just clips of the key questions and answers - none of the small talk and “thanks for being here/having me” that you hear on many podcasts.

Great podcast with practical tips. However, I wish the healthcare offenders would be named and shamed. Not in a way to break laws, but just the facts. This, I believe, would do amazing good to perform this broken industry.

The BEST podcast about one of the worst parts of American society! I love the way this podcast teaches and how engaging each episode is. A total knockout!

This show is FANTASTIC! I’m a nurse and this show makes learning about insurance entertaining -which helps me grow into an even better nurse! Thank you so much to the team responsible for this show.

Love the podcast. 3 stars because the ads for the podcast against the rules are so repetitive and long. I have to go to my phone every 15 mins to skip the ad.

Thanks for letting us know.

So informative and essential for people who want to understand our healthcare system better and empower themselves with information to advocate for themselves. Thank you for doing this!

This is one of my all-time favorite podcasts! It offers useful, simple advice for anyone struggling to navigate the US healthcare system in an interesting and engaging format. I highly recommend it here and irl.

Great insights and useful information to change our healthcare from within the current system. Thanks so much Dan!

Full of lots of useful information when dealing with insurance companies as well as stories of people going through the struggles of dealing with the inadequacy of the American healthcare system.

I am a physician in US. The Healthcare system here is unbelievable complex. I see how it just does not make sense. This podcast helps me to understand the details and provides me tools I share with my patients to help with medical bills. Great info, excellent reporting. Thank you!!!

Can't believe how much I've learned about healthcare from this podcast!

The host does a great job of reporting on important issues in the healthcare industry. Each podcast episode is beautifully done and I'm left immersed in the story being told. Highly recommend!

This podcast is an absolute game changer. Everyone will come to a point in their lives where they will absolutely need this information, and better to be prepared than wish you’d known it earlier. It has engaging journalistic stories with real people, experts, healthcare industry insiders and most importantly TIPS on how to navigate the painful and often downright fraudulent world of healthcare. I have had an unreasonable medical bill go to collections because I kept hitting dead ends with negotiation. If I had had heard this podcast back then I would have had the tools to resolve it! Do yourself a favor and listen to every episode.

I wish we didn’t need it, but this podcast is SO valuable. As a physician, I’ve learned so much from listening to this show about the financial side of healthcare, and especially about how to be a better advocate for patients, both professionally and in my personal life. Don’t miss an episode!! Thanks!

I really appreciate the information you provide to your listeners. I have a little bone to pick with your Andy Slavitt interview. I loved that he did your show with you and it seemed like you took some cheap shots. Unnecessary, he is a needed voice on Healthcare and a good ally. But overall love what you are trying to do.

This podcast is so informative. Rightfully so the stories and practices of our healthcare system invigorates anger, but this podcast has empowered me to fight even for the smallest thing. Keep up the great work.

I stumbled onto this show and became hooked enough to become a regular donor. It’s a candid, glaring insight into what American healthcare system looks and functions like. More importantly it tries to help you figure out how to deal with it. Dan (host) is easy to listen to, genuine and funny. I like his honest approach to the topics - no preaching or sugar-coating. Good work, Dan. I think you’ve created a legacy here.

I listen to many podcasts of all kinds. This is the best. I don’t need the practical stuff right now but I listen anyway. Makes me feel like the little guy can stand up to evil insurance companies. It has been 23 years since my dad died and his insurance company treated us like garbage. Until we have single payer, listen to Dan and friends.

Seriously, wish I didn’t need this podcast. I have Sweden but still face problems. Once you start digging into your health plan you realize nothing makes sense. Do they even understand what they are doing? I have used the information learned in this podcast multiple times. Keep up the great work.

I’m in the medical system and I can tell you that this information is important to know. Doctors act to help you but do so in a way so they aren’t sued. We know blood letting doesnt treat most diseases anymore but we still take blood every day for labs on top of labs. Do not let these bills ruin your life, become a healthcare ninja!

Love the show, big fan from the start. Optimistic solutions for a dystopian system of healthcare.

Wish we didn’t need this podcast but let’s be real. I’m a physician and even I can’t understand how to effectively battle the insurance industry for myself and my patients.

I always learn something new from the show. I’m a physician and we do NOT learn about in medical school or residency. I believe in this so much I donate. Keep up the good work and fight!

Great job

This podcast uses storytelling to help inform consumers about insurance issues. Engaging! This topic is rarely investigated in such a detailed, interesting, easy-to-understand manner.

We need more podcasts like this. The real life stories are very well prepared. This really empowers the public to be informed and prepared to take on unfair medical bills.

If the content of this show makes you uncomfortable or scared, do something about it. Health is a temporary condition; we will all face the battles described in this show some day. What do you want the deck to look like when it’s your turn to draw?

As a Brit living in the Us for 5 years the healthcare system here is incredible. Lots of unreasoned shouting ultimately controlled for the benefit of investors. I think on think is telling during this crisis- everyone in the UK is proud of the NHS and #protectthenhs and raising money for the nhs. There is nothing of the sort here. Is the NHS perfect, nope, but does it have the interests of the common people, yup. Do most people think it’s worth the $250 av from their paychec. Absolutely. Can’t say that about the $700 a month and $10000 deductible I have here.

Super smart and well-reported. It somehow manages to be an entertaining show about the cost of health care. Even now.

Dan really shines a light on so many bananas aspects of our healthcare system. Yet even though it is bleak, it never feels like all is lost. So much helpful and useful information in the show. I feel empowered now to take someone on should I ever get a surprise bill!

Learning something from every episode. Every adult in America needs to listen to this show. It can be eye-opening for people who have not had to use the healthcare system in our country yet. Highly recommend.

Such a great show. Dan makes a tough topic super listenable. I always learn something and feel more empowered after listening.

This podcast has become a great resource for me just starting to step into the adult world and take on my first jobs. Healthcare can be so confusing! It’s nice to know others are out there figuring it out with me.

My name is Marilyn Kahler and I’m a PA emeritus and do Clinical consulting for the Alaska PCA. I was touched especiAlly by this podcast. I’m dealing with a CHC in dire trouble in all areas. I will pass on your podcast to perhaps inspire the acting CEO. Not that it will help, per se, give him some home! All of the podcasts are timely and thought provoking. Thank you so very much!

There’s always some reductionist overly simplistic view on so many popular issues today. Lots of people peddle in this arena like Adam ruins everything or this show. There’s no shortage of problems in the current US system, but there’s plenty of problems in other systems too. Being outraged at some of these stories is a natural response to how people may be suffering. But assuming there isn’t another angle to these stories or that there’s always some evil cabal hidden somewhere that’s to blame is at best ignorant and at worst deceptive. This show has a strong political leaning that presumes that their side has understood it well. The closest I heard to an even-handed report that explained that at least in one case the opposition wasn’t some evil group in some smoke-filled room trying to profit off the backs of vulnerable people but a group of concerned citizens was the “Mom Vs. Texas” episode. However, be forewarned the host and his guest drop the F bomb numerous times. If you like that episode you’ll like the rest. In short if you absolutely hate the current US healthcare system and think it is, at its core, evil or corrupt then you will enjoy this show as it will affirm your view of the world and of your side in the political debate. If you think there’s more nuance to the world and to this debate and that not everyone on the other side is evil then at best you might find this show entertaining like I did but not informative nor helpful for discourse.

I’m a PA and this podcast has been so eye opening! We often forget about the financial burden of the decisions we make when we are helping patients. Patients shouldn’t have to chose between eating, housing, and healthcare and until medical providers start hearing the unintended consequences of treatment plans we make for patients we cannot change. Thank you for this podcast! Please keep it going!

I love listening to your podcast. Thank you for your efforts to maybe bring some clarity to especially health insurance issues that I’m sure the majority of people have no clue about.

Just listened to “Watch your Back” episode. It sparked my attention; because I do the billing and insurance for the neurosurgeons in my town. I agree with a lot of what they’re saying....HOWEVER; I want to clarify....when they talk about the doctors ALWAYS sending the patient for imaging (MRI, X-RAY, CT Scan, etc.) 99% of the time a patient gets sent for additional imaging In my office...it’s NOT bc the doctor wants or needs it...it’s because the patient’s insurance company refuses to pay any claim UNTIL they receive x-rays, or MRI, etc....even Though they may have very recent imaging....it’s just not the TYPE of imaging that they want. It’s absolutely ridiculous!! After working in the healthcare industry, specifically in billing; I’ve come to realize that more times than not...the DOCTOR is the one to get the bad Rep with patients, when in reality it’s the INSURANCE company that causes all the issues.

Outstanding podcast that explores the confusing and expensive maze we call healthcare. Do you want useful and practical information? You have come to the right place. Superb.

I knew we had problems with our healthcare but...this podcast lays out the painful truth of our situation through some excellent interviews of experts and touching true life stories.

Everyone NEEDS to listen to this podcast! We NEED change! This is extremely informative and should be piped into Congress daily! Thanks for making me feel less alone navigating our health system!

Probably one of the best podcasts out there!

I listen to tons of podcasts and this is one of the best. Medical costs are freakin maddening. Like really. Why do people get to profit from our suffering? How did we get to the point that drug companies don’t want to find cures for diseases because there’s no profit in it? This show makes me feel less alone in my rage and has some great advice about little things we can do that makes a difference.