Elisabeth Rosenthal tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross why she’s writing a series on rising healthcare costs:
"[The purpose is] to make Americans aware of the costs we pay for our healthcare. Because so many of us have insurance and we don’t see the bills, we tend to think of healthcare as free. ‘Why not get that colonoscopy? It doesn’t cost anything. What’s the difference if my hip replacement costs $100,000? I’m not paying.’ But in fact, we’re all paying. And as we know, healthcare is a huge cause of individual bankruptcies now. Copays and deductibles are going up, and the nation — because it pays for a lot of medical care and subsidizes a lot of medical care — just can’t afford the way we’re doing this anymore.”