Information and opinions on health from Jonathan Pletzke at HealthCentral.com. HealthCentral.com is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/76590/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/76590/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/76590/index http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/41252/medicare-doctor Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:13:00 -0400 Jonathan Pletzke I received the following question by email from a reader, regarding the previous article What's the good of having health insurance if you can't get a doctor to take it? I welcome you to comment on this article or ask your own questions.   "I read your article on What good does health insurance do if your doctor won't take it.  What about Medicare?  If you are 65 or older and are covered by Medicare (no choice there) and the... http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/41252/medicare-doctor http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/37615/neighborly Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:45:00 -0400 Jonathan Pletzke I talked to my neighbor today about how he can reduce his monthly health insurance costs. He runs his own small business and has himself, his wife, and two young children to insure.  They are currently on a $10 copay health insurance plan from the largest insurer in our area. He wanted to know how to get his monthly down to improve his cash-flow for himself and his business. My first thought was to encourage him to increase his deductible.... http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/37615/neighborly http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/36879/health-insurance Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:11:29 -0400 Jonathan Pletzke I was talking to my neighbor today about how he can reduce his monthly health insurance costs. He runs his own small business and has himself, his wife and two young children that are currently on a $10 copay health insurance plan from the largest insurer in our area. He wanted to know how to get his monthly payment down to improve his cash-flow for himself and his business. My first thought was to encourage him to increase his deductible.... http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/36879/health-insurance http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/34917/health-insurance Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:31:00 -0400 Jonathan Pletzke What if you went shopping for health insurance, bought yourself a plan, and then found out that you couldn't get a doctor to take the health insurance? Would you blame the system? Would you blame the insurer? Or would you accept part of the blame: that your shopping process didn't take into account the availability of doctors in your area. Would you change your answer if the insurer was the U.S. Government and the insurance program was... http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/34917/health-insurance http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/33815/procedures-cost Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:20:00 -0400 Jonathan Pletzke When I was writing my health insurance book, I wondered how much various medical procedures cost. I wanted to know how much these medical procedures cost because I wanted to know what the financial implications of various maladies. This would help to know how much insurance is really "worth" and how much one should reasonably expect to pay for health insurance. No point in paying hundreds of dollars a month for insurance when the "perils" that... http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/33815/procedures-cost http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/31355/insurance-move Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:20:00 -0400 Jonathan Pletzke I know it sounds crazy, but did you know that if you move to another state you may easily get health insurance, no questions asked? The reason is because some states do not allow medical underwriting when applying for health insurance, whereas the bulk of them do. So those states that don't allow medical underwriting are much easier to get health insurance regardless of medical status -- the application forms don't involve disclosing your... http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/31355/insurance-move http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/29443/medicare-covered Fri, 30 May 2008 17:36:00 -0400 Jonathan Pletzke Medicare can be confusing. There are a number of pieces to the Medicare puzzle, and understanding how they fit together and where there are gaps is important to knowing where Medicare coverage begins and ends.  For the official U.S. Government perspective on Medicare, visit the Medicare Options Compare website. Remember that Medicare is a financial tool and should be used with your own common sense to determine things you may also want... http://www.healthcentral.com/caregiver/c/76590/29443/medicare-covered