The Short Coat Podcast

Dan Weissmann is a former NPR journalist who was interested in the crazy world of healthcare costs in America. He'd suggested to his former bosses that he start covering people's stories of dealing with their medical care and it's often unpredictably wallet-sucking expenses, reasoning that the subject is one we all can relate to. Plus, he though, it's a damn important topic with political, economic, and personal implications. Unfortunately, it wasn't the story he'd been employed to tell, so he back-burnered the idea. Until one day he decided to leave radio and strike out on his own. As Dan put it to co-hosts Aline Sandouk, Laura Quast, and Dr. John Pienta, suddenly that story was very personal. After all, he didn't have health insurance through an employer anymore, and he found it difficult to even make a decision on what insurance to buy since that industry (and its collaborators in healthcare) makes choosing intentionally difficult by not supplying information we usually rely on to make purchasing choi