How to Get the Health Care You Want [Hardcover]

The Savvy Consumer's Guide to Navigating the Health Care System (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0979073006 | ISBN-13: 978-0979073007 | Publication Date: March 1, 2007

In the labyrinth of modern healthcare, many patients lose out at some time or another to confusion, bureaucracy, inefficiency, and uncaring providers. Without a savvy guide to differentiate good providers from bad, many of these patients are stuck with the luck of the draw when it comes to treating their illnesses. Laura Casey's How to Get the Healthcare You Want addresses this problem head-on, with proactive solutions that put the patient or patient's advocate back in control to secure the best available care. This book will help you navigate all the ins and outs of modern medical care with straightforward and helpful steps to improving the quality and efficiency of care. It addresses the topics most readers will be concerned about, such as how to work with uncooperative medical professionals or their staff, how to demystify insurance policies and clinician qualifications, and ways to handle billing errors and insurance disputes. The points are illustrated with stories of the author's or her family's experiences anecdotes that ground the facts in real life and add a personal, conversational tone to the book. The stories provide concrete demonstrations of the ways a patient can receive excellent care based upon his or her individual standards and expectations.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Laura Casey is an experienced patient advocate whose career in physician practice revenue cycle management spans more than twenty years. She earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, and is a cum laude graduate of The Peddie School in Highstown, New Jersey. Ms. Casey currently resides in Austin Texas.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: 1 Life Press (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979073006
• ISBN-13: 978-0979073007
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,651,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent resource for the healthcare consumer., April 14, 2007

By 

Cristian Lieneck "healthcare administrator" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Get the Health Care You Want (Hardcover)

Laura Casey's book, How to Get the Healthcare You Want, explains how to take charge of your healthcare needs. Whether a novice that has yet to enter the healthcare system, or a tenured provider rendering medical care to patients, Ms. Casey uses several personal experiences to relay the shortcomings of today's healthcare dilemmas, and how to watch out for them as a patient. A must for the routine healthcare consumer.

In addition, Ms. Casey provides an excellent explanation of the multitude of healthcare financing options that exist, to include the new Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). As each individual's financing options will differ based on their healthcare needs, this first-rate overview provides an exceptional summary of existing health plan types, their basic terminology, as well as the various types of medical providers whose services are covered under the various plans.

How to Get the Healthcare You Want scores one for the healthcare consumer, while reinforcing the need for a patient-centered healthcare environment.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Join the fight for nicer doctors, May 14, 2007

By 

Reading Horse (Washington) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Get the Health Care You Want (Hardcover)

Laura Casey is fighting for getter health care, and she wants you to join the fight. Her approach is to demand better health services from doctors, and if you don't get it, walk away and find a better doctor.

After reading How to Get the Health Care You Want, I dumped my doctor... the problem is I am still looking for a new doctor who is any better and still affordable.

I have two problems with this book: 1) Ms. Casey's advice might work for healthy people employed in a job with a flexible schedule, allowing them to take lots of time off to see doctor after doctor. The the sick and fulltime workers who can't take time off from work all the time, this is not useful advice.

2) A bigger problem is that it is often not the doctor, but the insurance company, that is preventing a patient from getting the health care she needs. Ms. Casey recommends you get the best health insurance that you can afford. For most people, that is not going to buy them much.

The book offers no help on How to Get the Health Care You Want Approved by Your Health Plan. In two short sentences Ms. Casey suggests grieve, mediate, and litigate -- that it! At least two full chapters should have been devoted to this important topic.