“Once you are placed on dialysis you get Medicare parts A and B so that means the dialysis companies can also bill Medicare for what our insurance company does not cover. So, you may be asking, what is the big deal? Well, our monthly bills are $49,000. We do not have to pay that out of our pockets each month, but someone (our insurance company and Medicare) is.”

Daniella and her husband went on vacation to the Bahamas recently and learned they’d have to pay “out of pocket” for their own expenses. “I was so worried that it was going to cost more than our whole vacation. Since we were on vacation my husband only did his treatments three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Our entire bill for his treatments was $600. Yes, only $300 a treatment. That was not a co-pay, but the actual total cost for his treatment. The equipment in the Bahamas is exactly the same as the equipment in the centers here in the U.S. The nurses are registered nurses, and there was even a doctor on staff at all times – which is not so in every dialysis center in the U.S. So, if we lived in the Bahamas and my husband got dialysis in a center three times a week it would only cost $3,600 a month, less than a tenth of what our costs are at home? How is that possible?” Daniella questioned.

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Sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee

Eighty-two percent of Americans think the U.S. healthcare system should be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt (Commonwealth Fund, Aug. 7, 2008). America's nurses know that only single-payer, improved and expanded Medicare for all will fix our broken system and the tragedy of our devastated families. HR 676, by U.S. Rep John Conyers, is the most comprehensive, cost effective way to achieve guaranteed healthcare for all.

For more information, or to contact this patient: Liz Jacobs, RN  510/273-2232.

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This past week I learned that I was again selected by my peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2009 in the field of “Health Care Law”.

In all, seven lawyers from Flaherty, Sensabaugh & Bonasso, PLLC were selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2009. Congratulations to my partner, Ted Martin, who was selected for the first time this year in the category of “Medical Malpractice”.

Congratulations go out to all the 2009 honorees:

• Bob Coffield - Health Care Law
• Mike Bonasso - Commercial Litigation
• Tom Flaherty - Personal Injury Litigation
• Don Sensabaugh - Medical Malpractice Law
• Jeff Wakefield - Commercial Litigation
  
• Stephen Brooks - Medical Malpractice Law and Personal Injury Litigation
• Ted Martin - Medical Malpractice Law

Below is background information about Best Lawyers and the process used to select attorneys for inclusion:

Since its inception in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 25,000 leading attorneys cast almost two million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their specialties, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”

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"The surgery was a little over $1,000 and the lab fees were $400. I am only 20 and obviously don't have that kind of money lying around. My parents had to take out a credit card to pay for my surgery because since the economy is so poor I couldn't qualify for a loan."

Crystal now has health insurance through her employer, but her cancer diagnosis came before full coverage for her treatment. "Now my parents because of the recession are near bankruptcy because they wanted to help me out. If I had waited on the surgery it (my cancer) might have spread within a month, and I would have had to have chemo—and if I couldn't afford that I would have lost my life. I have to go every three months for follow-up checks to make sure it doesn't come back and that only adds up more and more money."

"If something isn't done then I may not be able to continue being checked. I would be forced to leave my life in the hands of hope and just pray that my cancer doesn't come back," Crystal said.

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Sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee

Eighty-two percent of Americans think the U.S. healthcare system should be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt (Commonwealth Fund, Aug. 7, 2008). America's nurses know that only single-payer, improved and expanded Medicare for all will fix our broken system and the tragedy of our devastated families. HR 676, by U.S. Rep John Conyers, is the most comprehensive, cost effective way to achieve guaranteed healthcare for all.

For more information, or to contact this patient: Liz Jacobs, RN 510/273-2232.

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Did you know that the most popular car in America is actually a truck? A Ford F150, to be exact.

It’s no secret that we Americans love trucks.

They were invented here, for one thing, and they have as firm a place in American culture as guns and apple pie.

So let’s talk truck insurance.

Truck insurance is typically—though not always—more expensive than car insurance. Why? For a couple of reasons, but it’s primarily a safety issue.

For all their utility, trucks have historically not been as safe as passenger cars. High rollover rates and poor crash test results have made insurers somewhat wary—and that wariness translates into higher premiums.

The good news is that a renewed commitment to safety among manufacturers and new technologies like ABS (anti-lock brakes) and ESC (electronic stability control) are making trucks safer than ever, and that has begun to show in cheaper premiums.

Here are some quick and easy ways to save money on your truck insurance:

• Elect for a higher deductible (deductible = the amount you pay before your insurance kicks in)
• If you’re buying a truck, opt for every safety feature available
• Get multiple quotes before buying a policy

Before you click away, we’d like to get your opinion on one of the most hotly debated issues of our time:

Ford or Chevy? | BuzzDash polls

And feel free to sound off in the comment section below!

Photo from Flickr

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