New episode: Why this economist wants your medical bills

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Hey there —

We’ve got a new episode out today, and a new way you can pitch in with a big project.

When health economist Vivian Ho asked us to help her gather data for a new study, I wanted to hear her out.

A disclosure: Vivian’s been a donor to this show — not a make-or-break donor, but a generous and encouraging one, which is how I met her, learned about her work… and became kind of a fan.

Having studied the US health care system for decades she’s spent recent years trying to actively make a difference.

She’s done that by publishing findings on core Arm and a Leg questions like “When hospitals get richer and more profitable, do they give more charity care?” (Reader, they do not.)

And: “Why does employer-sponsored health insurance keep getting more expensive?” She’s come to believe the biggest reason is, hospitals charge too dang much. (Not the only reason, but the biggest.)

And she’s got ideas about what to maybe do about it — to save workers a lot of money.

To stress-test those ideas and build on them, she needs more data, including a bunch of actual hospital bills from 2025 — as many as she can get her hands on.

Which is why she asked for our help: She’s hoping listeners (and readers like you) will be game to support her research, by sending her a recent hospital bill.

As you’ll hear in the episode: I think her project is a good idea. I’ve sent her a hospital bill of my own — a test I went in for earlier this year — and I hope you’ll consider doing the same.

Vivian and her team at Rice are collecting bills and EOBs (explanations of benefits: the statements your insurance plan generates when they get a bill.)

There are a couple steps to follow — including redacting your personally identifying information. But it took me like five minutes, I promise.

You can find all details about how to send them here.

Coming up on An Arm and a Leg: a new series we’re calling (for now) “Things that did not suck in 2025.”

Like I say in every episode, I like a challenge.

‘Til then, take care of yourself.

— Dan