There has been a lot of recent news about a possible HPV Vaccine mandate in several states. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, HPV is the Human Papilloma Virus that has been linked to cervical cancer. It’s a virus that a lot of sexually active adolescent girls in [...]

If you are at the age where you qualify for Medicare, then you undoubtedly understand how difficult it may be to manage your medications and prescriptions. The government’s Medicare program is a terribly complicated thing comprised of four parts - A, B, C, and D. Medicare Part A is for hospital care. Medicare Part B [...]

Some people have suggested that one way to prevent the wasteful costs of healthcare is to have a menu of treatment options, with their costs, that is presented to the patient. For example, when you are admitted to the hospital as an inpatient, the physician typically orders tons of tests, medications, and nursing orders. Most [...]

The theme of my last several posts has been the profit motive inherent in the medical system. Many parties appear to be responsible for this including industry and the physician’s lobby. I submit that the most responsible party is the consumer. The consumer is the one who demands the most advanced procedure, the best medicine, [...]

Former nurse and retired attorney S.J. Robinson, author of The Price of Death, has practiced law dealing with medical malpractice and insurance companies over the last 30 years. Her book focuses on issues such as health insurance reform, oversight for prescription drug production, and the growing power of healthcare conglomerates. For more information about Robinson [...]

I previously wrote about the EOB and how insurance companies try their many tricks to decrease reimbursement to physicians. Most physicians do not fight back. Some do. Medical Economics has highlighted the plight of one physician who has been fighting back. Their story is about a Chicago ENT surgeon who brought a lawsuit against an [...]

Most of you already know this: Amateur Economists is not that old. It turned three months old, to be exact, on October 7. Since our first and second-month milestones went by quietly and uncelebrated, we decided to do things differently this month.
In celebration of our readers old, new, and yet-to-be (because this online magazine is [...]

I previously posted about insurance companies and the EOB. I’ve been thinking more and more about this issue and have come to the conclusion that physicians must band together and file class action lawsuits against insurance companies in order to collect the reimbursements that they legally deserve. If you take a closer look at the [...]

In the medical industry, there is a dirty word called “bundling.” Bundling is the combining of multiple procedure codes into a general substitution code that ignores procedure code modifiers. Essentially, it is one of the ways insurance companies figure out how to pay doctors less. Here is an example of how the mechanics of reimbursement [...]

A friend recently asked me whether it matters if a physician is board certified in his or her specialty. For those of you who don’t know, the medical profession is governed by both a national and state medical board. In order to practice medicine, physicians must have a state license and a national certificate showing [...]