Valleywide Legal Blog

Medical Debt Is Coming To A Household Near You

Medical debt is coming to a household near you, unless you are well-off.  If you are among the poorer Americans, the chances are high that you are carrying medical debt and that at least some of it is past due. … Read More

Posted in Doctors, Fee for Service, General Health, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, healthy living, Hospitals, Medical Costs, medical ethics, Medicare |

Hard To Believe But Insurance Company Policies Hurt Patients

I get it.  Insurance companies are in business to make money.  I don’t begrudge them a reasonable profit.  However, as evidenced by their behavior over the years, they can’t seem to operate without taking advantage of patients and patients are … Read More

Posted in Birth Injuries, Doctors, Fee for Service, General Health, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, healthy living, Insurance Law, Medical Costs, Medicare, Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes |

Health Care Professionals Are Not Immune to Greed

Willie Sutton, the Depression era bankrobber, when asked why he robbed banks, famously responded, “That’s where the money is.”  Today, the money is in illegal drugs and the Medicare program.  Foreign drug cartels make huge profits smuggling illegal drugs into … Read More

Posted in Doctors, drug companies, Fee for Service, Fraud, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, medical ethics, Medicare |

Our Health Care Spending Subsidizes the Rest of the World

If you follow this blog or read much about health care spending, you know that we in the United States spend twice as much per person on health care as any other nation on earth.  We pay way more for … Read More

Posted in Doctors, drug companies, Fee for Service, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, Hospitals, Medical Costs, Medical Devices, medical research, Medicare |

Our Broken Health Care Delivery System.

Next time you are visiting someone at the hospital and have a few minutes to spare, take a drive through the doctor’s parking lot.  If you live in a major metropolitan area, you will see luxury car after luxury car.  … Read More

Posted in Doctors, drug companies, Fee for Service, General Health, health, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, Hospitals, Medical Costs, medical ethics, Medicare, Obesity, Secrecy |

Some Helpful Medicare Enrollment Information.

It is only early November and I am already sick to death of the advertisements trying to get me to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan and I still have a month go before the open enrollment period ends.  Every … Read More

Posted in Doctors, Fee for Service, health, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, Medical Costs, Medicare |

Our Hospital Pricing System Is Insane.

I recently wrote a post about how our health insurance system is making the delivery of health care worse than it should be.  Here is another horror story for your files. There are two variables in health insurance plans that … Read More

Posted in Fee for Service, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, Hospitals, Mammogram, Medical Costs, medical ethics, Secrecy |

More Evidence Medicare Advantage Plans May Not Be A Good Deal

It is that time of the year again.  The Medicare Annual Enrollment period runs from mid-October to early December.  That means that the airwaves are full of celebrity spokespeople encouraging everyone who is Medicare eligible to “get all you deserve.”  … Read More

Posted in Doctors, Fee for Service, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, Hospitals, Medical Costs, Medicare |

Thanks to Health Insurance Health Care Is Getting Worse.

In the United States, we already pay more than any other developed nation for health care, but have poorer outcomes in major categories of care, such as infant mortality, life expectancy, obesity levels and rate of suicide, just to name … Read More

Posted in Doctors, Fee for Service, health, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, Hospitals, Medical Costs, medical ethics, Misdiagnosis |

Some Medicare Advantage Plans Are Taking Us For A Ride

In 2003, Congress made a major change to Medicare.  In the hopes of reducing costs through privatization, it created what are called Medicare Advantage plans.  The idea was that private companies would be paid a fixed amount to provide Medicare … Read More

Posted in Fee for Service, Fraud, General Health, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, medical charts, Medical Costs, Medicare, Secrecy |