‘An Arm and a Leg’: She Tangled With Health Insurers for 25 Years — And Loved It

By Dan Weissmann September 8, 2020

Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen.

About This Podcast

Health care — and how much it costs — is scary. But you’re not alone with this stuff, and knowledge is power. “An Arm and a Leg” is a podcast about these issues, and its second season is co-produced by KHN.

Visit armandalegshow.com

Barbara Faubion’s boss, an insurance broker, used to tell clients: “Listen, you don’t need to be on the phone for four hours with Blue Cross Blue Shield. Let us do that. I have a person.”

Faubion was that person. And she got up every day psyched to go to work, which she said puzzled her friends.

“They’d go, ‘You love your job?!? You spend your whole day talking to an insurance company. Are you kidding me?’”

She was not kidding. Faubion loved to win — and she was really, really good at untangling other people’s health insurance problems.

Now she’s going to teach us some of what she knows.

So why doesn’t every health insurance broker have someone like Faubion on staff? ProPublica reporter Marshall Allen has that answer; there are big clues in his 2019 story about industry commissions and bonuses.

“An Arm and a Leg” is a co-production of Kaiser Health News and Public Road Productions.

To keep in touch with “An Arm and a Leg,” subscribe to the newsletter. You can also follow the show on Facebook and Twitter. And if you’ve got stories to tell about the health care system, the producers would love to hear from you.

To hear all Kaiser Health News podcasts, click here.

And subscribe to “An Arm and a Leg” on iTunes, Pocket Casts, Google Play or Spotify.

This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Copy And Paste To Republish This Story

‘An Arm and a Leg’: She Tangled With Health Insurers for 25 Years — And Loved It

By Dan Weissmann September 8, 2020

Article HTML

<h1>‘An Arm and a Leg’: She Tangled With Health Insurers for 25 Years — And Loved It</h1>	<span class="byline">
		By <a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/author/dan-weissmann/"><strong>Dan Weissmann</strong></a>	</span>

// Autosize iframe
				var funcSizeResponse = function( e ) {

var origin = document.createElement( 'a' );
					origin.href = e.origin;

// Verify message origin
					if ( 'embeds.kff.org' !== origin.host )
						return;

// Verify message is in a format we expect
					if ( 'object' !== typeof e.data || undefined === e.data.msg_type )
						return;

switch ( e.data.msg_type ) {
						case 'poll_size:response':
							var iframe = document.getElementById( e.data._request.frame_id );

if ( iframe && '' === iframe.width )
								iframe.width = '100%';
							if ( iframe && '' === iframe.height )
								iframe.height = parseInt( e.data.height );

return;
						default:
							return;
					}
				}

if ( 'function' === typeof window.addEventListener ) {
					window.addEventListener( 'message', funcSizeResponse, false );
				} else if ( 'function' === typeof window.attachEvent ) {
					window.attachEvent( 'onmessage', funcSizeResponse );
				}
			}
			if (document.readyState === 'complete') { func.apply(); /* compat for infinite scroll */ }
			else if ( document.addEventListener ) { document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', func, false ); }
			else if ( document.attachEvent ) { document.attachEvent( 'onreadystatechange', func ); }
		} )();
		</script>

<p><em>Can’t see the audio player? <a href="https://armandalegshow.com/episode/she-tangled-with-health-insurance-every-day-for-25-years-and-loved-it-heres-what-she-can-teach-us/">Click here to listen.</a></em></p>

<aside class="related related-slab pull-right">
											<div class="slab default-slab ">
													<h3>
					<a href="https://armandalegshow.com/">
		About This Podcast			</a>
			</h3>
<div class="slab-container">	<div class="slab-content">
		
	<iframe 
 title="‘An Arm and a Leg’: She Tangled With Health Insurers for 25 Years — And Loved It" aria-label="Podcast title: ‘An Arm and a Leg’: She Tangled With Health Insurers for 25 Years — And Loved It"
		id="wpcom-iframe-2ab20e1f074fcb30b9e2b3190e0fa855"
		width="100%"
		height="188"
		src="https://embeds.kff.org/protected-iframe/2ab20e1f074fcb30b9e2b3190e0fa855"
		scrolling=""
		frameborder="0"
		class="wpcom-protected-iframe"
		>
	</iframe>
	<script type="text/javascript">
		( function() {
			var func = function() {
				var iframe = document.getElementById('wpcom-iframe-2ab20e1f074fcb30b9e2b3190e0fa855')
				if ( iframe ) {
					iframe.onload = function() {
						iframe.contentWindow.postMessage( {
							'msg_type': 'poll_size',
							'frame_id': 'wpcom-iframe-2ab20e1f074fcb30b9e2b3190e0fa855'
						}, "https:\/\/embeds.kff.org" );
					}
				}

// Autosize iframe
				var funcSizeResponse = function( e ) {

var origin = document.createElement( 'a' );
					origin.href = e.origin;

// Verify message origin
					if ( 'embeds.kff.org' !== origin.host )
						return;

// Verify message is in a format we expect
					if ( 'object' !== typeof e.data || undefined === e.data.msg_type )
						return;

switch ( e.data.msg_type ) {
						case 'poll_size:response':
							var iframe = document.getElementById( e.data._request.frame_id );

if ( iframe && '' === iframe.width )
								iframe.width = '100%';
							if ( iframe && '' === iframe.height )
								iframe.height = parseInt( e.data.height );

return;
						default:
							return;
					}
				}

<p>Barbara Faubion’s boss, an insurance broker, used to tell clients: “Listen, you don’t need to be on the phone for four hours with Blue Cross Blue Shield. Let us do that. I have a person.”</p>
<p>Faubion was that person. And she got up every day psyched to go to work, which she said puzzled her friends.</p>
<p>“They’d go, ‘You love your job?!? You spend your whole day talking to an insurance company. Are you kidding me?’”</p>
<p>She was not kidding. Faubion loved to win — and she was really, really good at untangling other people’s health insurance problems.</p>
<p>Now she’s going to teach us some of what she knows.</p>
<p>So why doesn’t every health insurance broker have someone like Faubion on staff? ProPublica reporter Marshall Allen has that answer; there are big clues in his 2019 <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/health-insurance-brokers-cost-commissions-bonuses">story</a> about industry commissions and bonuses.</p>

<p>“An Arm and a Leg” is a co-production of Kaiser Health News and Public Road Productions.</p>
<p>To keep in touch with “An Arm and a Leg,” <a href="https://armandalegshow.com/newsletter/">subscribe to the newsletter</a>. You can also follow the show on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/armandalegshow/">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/armandalegshow">Twitter</a>. And if you’ve got stories to tell about the health care system, the producers <a href="https://armandalegshow.com/contact-us/">would love to hear from you</a>.</p>
<p><em>To hear all Kaiser Health News podcasts, <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/tag/podcast/">click here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>And subscribe to “An Arm and a Leg” on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/an-arm-and-a-leg/id1438778444">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://play.pocketcasts.com/web/discover/podcast/6e9e33e0-b911-0136-7b93-27f978dac4db">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hcm1hbmRhbGVnc2hvdy5jb20vZmVlZC9wb2RjYXN0Lw%3D%3D">Google Play</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3wBgLSbYPKT3gnd9KGjz5t?si=jEMzB2soS_ayOsYbK0cmnQ">Spotify</a>.</em></p>
	</div>
	<div class="link-button">
		<a href="https://armandalegshow.com/" class="btn btn-default btn-block">
			Visit armandalegshow.com		</a>
	</div>
	</div>						</div>
									</aside>
				
<p>Barbara Faubion’s boss, an insurance broker, used to tell clients: “Listen, you don’t need to be on the phone for four hours with Blue Cross Blue Shield. Let us do that. I have a person.”</p>
<p>Faubion was that person. And she got up every day psyched to go to work, which she said puzzled her friends.</p>
<p>“They’d go, ‘You love your job?!? You spend your whole day talking to an insurance company. Are you kidding me?’”</p>
<p>She was not kidding. Faubion loved to win — and she was really, really good at untangling other people’s health insurance problems.</p>
<p>Now she’s going to teach us some of what she knows.</p>
<p>So why doesn’t every health insurance broker have someone like Faubion on staff? ProPublica reporter Marshall Allen has that answer; there are big clues in his 2019 <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/health-insurance-brokers-cost-commissions-bonuses">story</a> about industry commissions and bonuses.</p>

We encourage organizations to republish our content, free of charge. Here’s what we ask:

You must credit us as the original publisher, with a hyperlink to our californiahealthline.org site. If possible, please include the original author(s) and “California Healthline” in the byline. Please preserve the hyperlinks in the story.

Have questions? Let us know.

From The California Health Care Foundation

Medi-Cal Medi-Cal Facts and Figures – 2024 Edition

Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, is the state’s health insurance program for Californians with low incomes, including children, people with disabilities, and seniors. Get the latest data on this program, which covers one in three Californians.

Health Policy Survey Health Disparities by Race and Ethnicity in California — 2024 Edition

Disparities among historically marginalized groups in California occur across many demographic categories. This Almanac provides data that show how people of color face barriers in accessing health care, often receive suboptimal treatment, and are most likely to experience poor outcomes in the health care system.

Health Policy Survey The 2024 CHCF California Health Policy Survey

Conducted in fall 2023, this survey collected Californian adults’ opinions and experiences on various health care topics, including mental health, medical debt, racial equity, and more.

Related Topics