About this episode

The episode discusses how to avoid surprise medical costs and medical debt, featuring insights from Patricia Kelmar of PIRG.

Every year, millions of Americans are blindsided by surprise medical bills and crushing debt - not because they did anything wrong, but because the system is designed to be confusing. Patricia Kelmar of PIRG explains your rights under the No Surprises Act, how surprise medical billing has changed, and what you can do about it in this #CareTalk episode with show host, cancer survivor, and health care advocate Laura Packard from Health Care Voices . Plus Louise Norris from healthinsurance.org and Rachel Madley from the Center for Health & Democracy answer your American health insurance and health care questions on Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, private insurance and more. This episode has more about proposed health care cuts to pay for the war in Iran, overview of 2026 open enrollment numbers for the Affordable Care Act, how to handle out of network medical bills, and the end of Medicare Advantage open enrollment. New episodes of Care Talk every Tuesday, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Text or call in your health insurance and health care questions in to (202) 838-6837 to get answers in future shows! Free or Low Cost Health Care Resources on our show…

People in this episode

Host: Laura Packard

Guest: Patricia Kelmar

Topics covered

• surprise medical bills
• medical debt
• No Surprises Act
• health insurance
• Medicare
• Affordable Care Act

Keywords

• surprise medical bills
• medical debt
• No Surprises Act
• health insurance
• Medicare
• Affordable Care Act
• out of network medical bills
• Medicare Advantage

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: PIRG, healthinsurance.org, Center for Health & Democracy, Health Care Voices

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