Hey there—

I hope you enjoy today’s episode of An Arm and a Leg. It’s one of my favorites, and it’s part of a story we’ve been following for a while, about our legal rights.

Before her surgery, a hospital told Lisa French she would end up owing them $1,337. 

After insurance paid them — more than they’d expected — the hospital billed her $229,000. And sued her for it.

Her case went all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court.

The questions before the court, and how they ruled, have potentially major implications for our legal rights when it comes to fighting unfair medical bills — and how some hospitals might be thinking about their next move.

UPDATE!

A few months ago, we reported on how listener Susan Rice spent 18 months fighting her insurer, Ambetter — and how they’d recently been hit with a class-action lawsuit.

Now, our pals at KFF Health News are digging up more cases: Patients going to docs who Ambetter tells them are in-network, but aren’t. 

An insurance broker tells reporter Julie Appleby: ““The thing that shocked me was how many [medical] offices told my clients, ‘We have never heard of this [insurance] company.’”

The story also includes some news we may be able to use — protections in the No Surprises Act. 

According to Julie’s story, “if patients get hit with an out-of-network charge because they relied on inaccurate information, the insurer can charge the patient only the in-network rate.” 

We will be following up.

Helpful stuff:

The folks at Vox recently published a good medical-bill primer. It doesn’t cover everything — that’s what our First Aid Kit newsletter is for — but there's always room for more resources like this.

Also: The folks at NPR Life Kit had a good medical-bill episode recently too, with our pal Jared Walker making some terrific points about how to keep from freaking out. 

We’ll unpack and expand on all of that in next week’s First Aid Kit. (If you’re not subscribed, this is a great time to get on the list…)

THAT’S IT FOR NOW

Let me know what you think about today’s episode. It ends with a homework assignment or two from me, and a request for quick help from you:

We’re starting to collect the forms hospitals and medical offices give you when you sign in. The ones where you “agree” to pay whatever your insurance doesn’t.

If you get a chance, please see if you can dig up the latest from your providers, and send ‘em to us! Your participation in our reporting is super, super powerful.

Thanks for all your work, and thanks for listening.

I’ll catch you soon.

Till then, take care of yourself.

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Or here's a transcript!