‘An Arm and a Leg’: No Money, No Job, No Health Care? Not Always.

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In case you don’t have cash and also you don’t have a job, what are your greatest choices for getting well being care? 

It’s 2023 open enrollment season, and loads of People are looking for medical health insurance plans. And a few are weighing the dangers of skipping medical health insurance altogether.

One listener wrote to “An Arm and a Leg” about his son, a pupil with no earnings who has aged out of the household’s medical health insurance. He requested: If his son buys a plan, would he be signing away the potential for getting charity care (monetary help) at his native hospital? 

To reply this query, podcast host Dan Weissmann relied on professional assist from Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at KFF, and Jared Walker, founding father of Greenback For and an professional on charity care.

If you wish to go deeper:

• “An Arm and a Leg” did a three-part collection on choosing medical health insurance in its First Assist Package e-newsletter. Begin right here. 
• An episode from final yr explored different do’s and don’ts for selecting medical health insurance.
• In a 2018 episode, Weissmann talked with one other listener — a “monetary therapist” — who had her personal deep questions on medical health insurance. 

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

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KHN (Kaiser Well being Information) is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points. Along with Coverage Evaluation and Polling, KHN is likely one of the three main working packages at KFF (Kaiser Household Basis). KFF is an endowed nonprofit group offering info on well being points to the nation.

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