NPR. This is The Indicator from Planet Money.
I'm Waylon Wong,
and I'm joined today by Lillian Kerbake from member station Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Hi, I'm here to talk about something that is very American,
as American as apple pie and baseball.
Healthcare churn.
And just as fun.
Churn is the term for when people switch insurance plans.
And it's particularly bad in the U.S.
And that's because of the segmented and sometimes chaotic way we approach health insurance.
Yep.
One year you might get insurance through your parents.
And then you turn 26.
You get kicked off.
Maybe you get insurance through your job.
But if you drop down your hours at work, you might then lose insurance.
Good news.
You now qualify for Medicaid.
But the month after that, if you make $1 too much, Poof.
Medicaid is gone and you're scrolling through marketplace plans like it's Tinder.