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This weekend, the FT's Claire Bushey asks a question that sounds poetic but is actually entirely unsentimental: how much is my life worth? In 2021, Claire learned she had breast cancer. The cost of her treatment points us to how, exactly, the US healthcare system is broken. Then, Lilah takes on Prince Harry's autobiography Spare with chief features writer Henry Mance. After so much Harry and Meghan content, what can we possibly still learn?

We love hearing from you! Fill in our feedback survey here: http://ft.com/weekendsurvey. You can also email us at ftweekendpodcast@ft.com. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap.

Links:

– Claire’s column, ‘How much does my life cost? A tale of US cancer care’’: https://on.ft.com/3HeGyeS

– Claire recommends the book Never Pay The First Bill, by Marshall Allen. She also references The Undying: A Meditation on Modern Illness by Anne Boyer

– Henry Mance’s review of Spare, by Prince Harry: https://on.ft.com/3J2oDcy

– Claire is on Twitter @Claire_Bushey. Henry is @HenryMance. Henry has a book called How to Love Animals.

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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Claire Bushey

The next nine months brought more mammograms, more biopsies, an MRI, a lumpectomy, six weeks of radiation, eight rounds of chemotherapy and God knows how many blood draws. Today my body appears free of disease. Survival allows me the luxury of reckoning the cost — philosophically, of course, but also in very real dollars and cents.

Medical issues are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the US. Fortunately, that does not apply to me. A decade ago I was uninsured for several years, but when the lightning bolt hit, I had a full-time job with solid health insurance. The Financial Times granted me paid medical leave, and I was treated by skilled, caring professionals at one of the teaching hospitals in Chicago’s Northwestern Medicine system. So far I have paid little out of pocket.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Claire Bushey