Healthcare System Reform or Ruination?

The sound bites from the Lefties in Washington claim that our healthcare system is broken and incapable of serving the market.  This is a false caricature of a complex system that works most of the time.  I follow with a recent personal experience that a reader asked to share with this Blog.

Steve,

Since Congress seems to be so preoccupied with radically changing our healthcare, I thought I’d relate my own story about dealing with the U.S. healthcare system.  I’ll spare you the gory details, but I recently had to see a Urologist.  On December 3^rd, I called the office of a doctor I had never been to before and got an appointment for the following Monday.  He examined me and sent me for tests that were done later that week.  I needed to have a minor outpatient surgical procedure that was successfully performed this past Tuesday.  I had total confidence throughout the process because everyone I encountered along the way was friendly, helpful and extremely professional.  It took a total of 12 days from my initial call to a successful result.  How long do you think this process would have taken under a government healthcare bureaucracy?  Once our current system is destroyed we may never be able to get it back.

Regards,

Name withheld at Author’s request

The reader’s experience is duplicated thousands of times a day in this country.  Proof that the system works is that most Americans now living longer and healthier than their parents.  Instead of tearing down a working system, we should address major issue(s) that need improvement.

Most Americans can define what needs improvement in healthcare: high cost.  However, corrective action will make the situation worse if not done within the framework of most basic law of economics, supply and demand.

Healthcare costs can only be brought down by either increasing supply or decreasing the demand for it.  Most Americans desire increased supply.  But, that’s not what the knuckleheads in Washington propose.  In an attempt to sell snake-oil, they claim to offer more services, to more people, and at lower cost without addressing the supply side of the equation.  Any student of Econ 101 knows that increasing demand for a product without increasing its supply causes havoc in the market.  For healthcare reform, the programs currently suggested in Washington will create shortages that will require rationing by non-economic means, i.e. the bureaucrats in Washington will determine how and when we get access to medical services..  The President and Congress understand this and are being disingenuous when they repeatedly promise otherwise.

Should healthcare reform that the Left is currently proposing go through, the urologist example listed above will increase from 12-days to many weeks or months.  That’s precisely what our brothers in Canada now face.  Get ready for it or take action now!

What is asbestos?

Asbestos is a natural mineral extracted. By its nature, long, thin fibers such as cotton, making this a wonderfully useful material, but also make it lethal. The fact that it can be woven like cotton yarn and only served to ensure widespread use. Before 1989, asbestos was used in drywall joint compound, wall treatments textured, vinyl floor tiles, roof tiles, roofing, including roofing, siding, some types of ceilings,Cement, bricks, pipes and electrical insulation, in addition to many applications outside of the building.

Asbestos is still used as building material in China, India and other countries, but has been banned for most uses in the United States since the late 1980s, when the phase of initiation.

What should you do?

The module can be harmful so asbestos siding, do not. However, mere suspicion is on them to scare or kill your prospectsTrade. Even if only that asbestos may be present, shall assume, for this test and, if present, they get clean. Because asbestos was so widespread, many rehabilitation services available, but must be approved by an entrepreneur who made specialized in asbestos removal.

There are two basic ways to deal with asbestos: Remove or seal can not through the air. It is far from a contractor by the state or federal level, EPA has approved theGold standard. However, as many standards-gold is expensive. Seals cost much less and may be appropriate in certain circumstances.

I certainly do not recommend this as a do-it-yourself project.

ATTENTION: Due to the danger of asbestos to health, if you know, you should get is clean. Of course, if you know of his presence, you need to put it bluntly. This is another reason for the problems before setting your house on the market,when there is no more, she can no longer be a problem.

From scores fasting in demand of a new state in India’s hilly northeast to a powerful chief minister suggesting her region be split up, the map of the nation is facing an overhaul.

Ethnic minorities and activists in economically deprived regions are seeking states of their own, following the government’s surprise decision last week to give in to a hunger strike and create a new state in southern India.

Now, India is confronting serious calls for a grand reorganization of this sprawling, diverse nation of 1.2 billion.

“We are looking at what could be a major crossroads in the political evolution of the Indian system,” said Mahesh Rangarajan, a prominent political analyst at Delhi University. “Are 28 states enough for a billion people when 300 million Americans have 50 states?”

In this Dec. 10, 2009 photo, supporters of the Telangana movement celebrate after the central government’s decision to initiate the process of creating a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh, at Osmania Universaity in Hyderabad, India.

China, which India is expected to surpass in 2025 as the world’s most populous country, uses centralized, authoritarian rule to maintain order and unity. India’s democracy has relied on constant negotiation and compromise to empower its different ethnic groups and bind the diverse country, from the rural hill people who live on the Tibetan border to the business tycoons of Mumbai.

The Indian system gives broad power to the states. It was largely created after a Gandhi disciple died from a 58-day hunger strike in 1952, while pressing for the creation of Andhra Pradesh, a new state in the south.

Following the ensuing street protests, the government agreed to reorganize the country based on language groups. India has occasionally tweaked its internal boundaries since then, most recently with the creation of three new states in 2000 that brought the total to 28.

Some states remain so large they have become difficult to govern, leaving politically marginalized regions out of the country’s economic boom.

“You’ve got to try something new,” Rangarajan said. “Something’s not working about it.”

Parties across the spectrum — including the ruling Congress Party — have backed appeals for new states to garner regional support during elections. But as the campaigns fade, so does the pressure for statehood.

In an attempt to re-ignite the passions, politician K. Chandrasekhar Rao embarked on another hunger strike in Andhra Pradesh last month, demanding his neglected region of Telangana be given statehood.

As his health faded and protests grew, the government suddenly gave in — and was immediately swamped by calls for at least 16 other new states.

Some want states for neglected minorities, such as the 105 ethnic Gurkha activists who have been fasting since Friday, calling for a state of Gorkhaland to be carved out of West Bengal.

“This is our final battle,” said Bimal Gurung, a leader of the Gurkha movement. “If the Telangana demand can be met, why can’t our 102-year-old demand be met?”

Others are seeking development of poor and neglected areas, such as the interior Vidarbha region in the state of Maharashtra, which many argue has been ignored in favor of the coastal areas around Mumbai.

Some say smaller units will be more manageable and responsive to voters and lead to better governance.

Mayawati, the powerful chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, sent a letter last week to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh calling for her gargantuan state to be split in four pieces so it can be more easily administered. The state’s 180 million people give it a population larger than all but five countries in the world.

“This is the demand of the people and the central government should respect people’s sentiments,” she said.

Mayawati, who uses only one name, appeared to be making a shrewd calculation. If the Congress Party government rejects her proposal, it will alienate voters; if it grants it, it will give her regional party three more states — with their accompanying sources of patronage — to potentially govern.

“She is trying to play to the rallies and create some trouble for the government of India to score some political points,” Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said.

She also has a point, analysts say. Bringing politicians closer to the voters is healthy for democracy.

“If your state’s capital is 100 miles away instead of 400 miles away, in theory they are more obliged to listen to you,” said Ramachandra Guha, a prominent historian and author of “India after Gandhi.”

“We are an evolving nation, we are 60 years young. We are yet to find the correct political forms to cope with our growing population,” he said.

Calls are growing for the government to appoint a reorganization commission to take a look at the structure of the country, give a platform for all the statehood activists to air their demands and decide what new states are needed.

Reflecting the political sensitivity of the issue, Congress spokesman Ahmed said the party would not oppose such a commission “provided there is a consensus.”

There are dangers in giving too much, as well.

The Telangana decision has sparked fierce counterprotests in Andhra Pradesh by residents of the state capital, who fear their city might wind up belonging to a different state.

The government has tried to tamp down expectations.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee warned that the Telangana decision “does not mean new states are going to be created everywhere.”

But the newly energized activists say they will not go away.

“Up until now, Andhra Pradesh was boiling,” said Raja Bundela, a leader of the fight for a Bundelkhand state. “It could be Bundelkhand’s turn to burn next.”

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Title: Developing psychosocial resilience: how to cope in a crisis

Skinny: Provides a stepped model of care for staff that is sensitive and responsive to their needs before, during and after emergencies. It will ensure that staff are prepared to cope with long-sustained demand.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 27p.

Published: 16/12/2009

Title: NHS operating framework for 2010/11 (letter to Social Partnership Forum and National Stakeholder Forum)

Skinny: Letter introducing the NHS operating framework 2010/11 to the Social Partnership Forum and National Stakeholder Forum

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 3p.

Published: 16/12/2009

This is the reason why KRS-One is one of the greatest.

What are Replica Watches?
Replica watches are among the most fashionable accessories today. Are among the lovers of fashion popular because it helps them to reflect their fashion sense on a very low price. Replica fake watches are not like them do not understand.

Designer watches are replicas of high quality in materials, manufacture of brand watches are the most used products. Watch in stainless steel, quartz, and the mechanism used for the manufacture of replicas to be similar todesigner brands. So do not buy, watch replicas does not mean that you compromise with quality.

Replica Watches Why so little?
Often ask if there are replicas watches as well and are made from better material then why are so cheap? The answer is very simple. It's just brand. A lot of money on advertising and support for designer brands such as Mont Blanc, Cartier, Omega, Chanel, and other popular brands spent. Take the help of celebritiesto support their products. All this costs a lot of money, which is included in the cost of original brand watches.

Watches have nothing to spend on their marketing, advertising and support. The only cost is involved in its manufacture. Producers to sell a little leeway. This is the secret behind the low prices of replica watches.

Modern Fashion Trends – Promoting the use of replication
Modern fashion trends are also encouraging the use of replicas.Today, people want to bring not only a replica watch. Want to have several replicas in its collection of fashion accessories. Well, it is not possible for all the original pieces of precious luxury brand watches to do. So eager to designer replica watches.

Fashion-conscious people can see some brand replica watches for the cost of one original designer. You can also corresponding models with most of their clothes fashion favorite.Replica watches similar to their original counterparts, and customers do not have to pay a high price.

Today it is very easy, the best quality replica watches. It is possible for you by one of the most popular online shops selling designer replica watch. Start your search today and you may end up getting a deal more convenient for your favorite designer replica watches.

Equilibrium is determined by the interaction of given supply and demand curves. But what about changes in supply and demand? Such changes can be interpreted as shifts of the supply, curve, of the demand curve, or both at once.

Perhaps as a result of altered preferences, buyers suddenly want to continue more of some good at each possible price. This is called an increase of demand. The basic technique in analyzing some economic change will be to ask: Is the change reflected in a shift of supply, or a shift of demand (or possibly, of both)? It will be immediately evident that an increase in demand alone leads to an increase in both equilibrium price and equilibrium quantity. An increase in supply leads to an increase in equilibrium quantity, but to a decrease in equilibrium price.

It is sometimes useful to distinguish between those sources of change originating “outside” and those originating “inside” the economic system. The “outside” sources of variation include” 1) Changes in tastes, 2) changes in technology, changes in resources, and 3) changes in resources, and 4) changes in the political-legal system. All these changes can be regarded, in some degree at least, as originating autonomously rather than in response to economic factors.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Natural Gas Charts technically bullish side For Short Term Or 3 Months View. Fundamentals Are Strong But Global Warming Also Slightly Affects Demand Of  Natural Gas In USA. But Now  Demand  Time Initiates From Mid November To Mid March.

Technical charts Are Also Strong Anyone Can Buy Natural Gas At Range Rs 200 – 240 sl 168 tgt  Rs  280 – 360 – 400 – 424.

Bullionguru.com

My interest peaked today after reading Michelle Malkin’s article on “Terrific: Government Recalls 800,000 Doses of Kids’ Swine Flu Vaccine“, I began looking around for why and how that many doses might have lost their strength.

I discovered that on the CDC’s own delivery schedule/supply site for today’s date – 2009 H1N1 Influenza Vaccine Supply Status the demand, supply, & delivery numbers decrease dramatically. Why then did this amount of doses basically expire?

Sanofi Pasteur shipped them in November? Why then would samples be rechecked for strength so late or is it so recent after shipment?

Someone might want to start investigating this issue quickly, for the safety of the citizens of the United States of America!

Is the delivery date wrong? If not, why had they not been given? If the delivery date is correct, then why were samples just tested, and when were they really manufactured? ****Lots of questions on this one!

It would appear that we have enough children between the ages of 6 to 35 months to administer said product.

Is there something more to the story on quality control? I’m just saying! It would appear there is a common thread of Health Care issues and meetings and lobbyists at the White House with Mr. Obama and connections to Mrs. Pelosi as this article states:

“– Amador “Dean” Aguillen, a former aide to Nancy Pelosi but now with Ogilvy Government Relations, appears to have attended the same Aug. 21 meeting with Turton that Ackil did. At Ogilvy, Aguillen works on behalf of clients including pharmaceutical companies SanofiPasteur and Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, Pfizer Inc., and Amgen USA Inc., all of which reported lobbying on health care issues this year.”

hmm? “Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!”

By the way I miss Tidewater!

***Also forwarded to The 912 Project Fan Site for use.

What Are Replica Watches?

Replica watches are among the hottest fashion accessories nowadays. They are popular among fashion enthusiasts because it helps them in reflecting their fashion sense on a very low price. Replicas watches are not fake so don’t misunderstand them.

Designer Replicas Watches are made of best quality materials that are used in making of most designer watches. Stainless steel, quartz, and the mechanism used in making of replicas watch are similar to the designer brands. So, buying replicas watches doesn’t mean that you are compromising with quality.

Why Replica Watches Are So Cheap?

People often enquire that if replicas watches are so good and they are made of best quality material then why are they so cheap? The answer is very simple. It’s just brand. A lot of money is spent on advertising and endorsement of designer brands like Mont Blanc, Cartier, Omega, Chanel, and other popular brands. They take help of celebrities to endorse their product. All these takes a lot of money which is included in the cost of original designer watches.

Replicas watches have nothing to spend on their marketing, advertising and endorsement. The only cost involved is in their making. The manufacturers sell them with a little margin. This is the secret behind the cheap prices of replicas watches.

Modern Fashion Trends – Encouraging Use of Replica

Modern fashion trends are even encouraging use of replicas watch. Nowadays people don’t just want to wear one replicas watch. They want to have multiple replicas in their collection of fashion accessories. Well, it’s not possible for everyone to afford precious luxury of original pieces of designer watches. Therefore they look forward to designer replica watches.

Fashion conscious people can buy several replica designer watches for cost of just one original designer watch. They can have matching designs with most of their favorite fashion costumes. Replica watches reflect similar fashion trends like their original counterparts and people don’t have to pay heavy price for that.

Nowadays, it is very easy to find best quality replicas watches. You can get one for you from any of the popular online stores selling designer replicas watche. Start your search today and you may end up getting a cheaper deal for your favorite designer replica watches.

AAAQualityReplicas.com offers Swiss replica watches of all the popular brand like Rolex, Breitling, Omega, Tag heuer, Cartier, Gucci and Panerai. Free worldwide shipping.

Tags : Cheap Store Online

This morning I read an interesting blog about how technology is making us all zombies to the real world. For example, it’s possible for people to travel to the most beautiful place and spend most of their time taking pictures and posting them of Facebook instead of really ENJOYING the moment of being IN the beautiful place.  And while I believe that sometimes people can become to engrossed into their electronics.. I believe it is a supply/demand concept.

The issue is not about what technology is doing to us, but why do we prefer this kind of communication. What is lacking in the physical world that makes us reach for a blackberry instead of meditating in the sunlight on the beauty of the earth.  I can only guess that the reason is because the form of communication we now have is instant, interesting, fleeting, but most importantly it’s USER generated.

I get to decide what news I read about, what pictures I look at, what movies I review and so on. I also feel like my personal opinion matters.. when I review a clothing brand or fan a charity online, I feel like I’m defining myself with every click.

I have been made familiar with the internet for about 15 years. Still my reach is MSN.com, Hotmail.com, Facebook.com, Myspace.com, NBC.com (where I routinely watch The Office). Last night, as I lie in bed talking to my boyfriend (on the phone)… I told him I was online and bored.. and wondered where all the fun stuff on the internet was. He didn’t know much beyond his 5-10 favorite sites either. I know people are always talking about and finding things that are interesting.. but I can’t seem to find them. Occasionally, I will find fun stuff like Rainn Wilson’s blog… but for the most part.. I stick to my four or five websites and am off the web when there’s nothing left for me to investigate. 

Fortunately, I am using my new blog as motivation to branch out and explore unknown world wide web territory.  I read two random blogs this morning… and left comments. Both we’re interesting. After reading the second blog about Digital Zombies  I couldn’t help but wonder…. why do people prefer what I consider to be distanced connecting. (We’re connecting more, but from an arm’s length away. )

As I let this thought roll around in my head I came to realize a few things.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? Think about all the horrible stories  you hear about families that fight during the Holidays, how uncomfortable conferences are, or how irritating it is to go shopping on Black Friday… I mean..Are we jumping to conclusions about how great reality is… or how great being face-to-face is..perhaps this is why people prefer to be in cyber world.. (or on drugs! j/k )

 I wear a lot of hats. I am a parent, a daughter, a sister, an employee, an ex-wife, a girlfriend, and many more. Throughout my day I spend a lot of time switching hats. These hats are reflected on sites like facebook and myspace. It feels like an organized place where I can evaluate who I am. All of my friends and family are there, co-workers, people I volunteer with. It’s like all my separate worlds have one place where they come together. (sorta scary for some)

Now, some people take ABOUT ME sections seriously and some don’t. (What a great insight into who they are.) But more importantly.. as I’ve changed and grown over the last two years or so. I’ve had to think ABOUT ME. What are my favorite shows, my favorite authors, quotes…etc. Why is that information important?   These things change as I grow..  and I can see that I am becoming the woman I’ve always wanted to be…. I am a work in progress… (from less informed, stereotypical thinking and behavior, to aware, engaged, involved… productive member of society.. that loves to laugh!)

This blog is a part of that progress… as I write here anonymously I hope to be as honest and as real as possible….to continue to grow & mature. 

To remove all hats and just be me.

Stay Tuned.

Title: Learning from the Past: Tackling worklessness and the social impacts of the recession­ – Briefing Paper

Skinny: Paper that argues that beating the social impacts of recession is crucial in preventing the downward spiral into long-term worklessness that the country has seen in the past. It is published alongside an evidence pack that sets out the data related to the past and current economic context.  It outlines how previous recessions have resulted in not just rising unemployment, but also increases in crime, mental health problems and family and relationship breakdown. It highlights the social impacts of previous recessions and how this time round despite steeper falls in GDP, labour market effects have been less severe than in the past.

Publisher: Cabinet Office

Size of Publication: 20p.

Published: 15/12/2009

Additional Documents:

1. Learning from the Past: Tackling worklessness and the social impacts of the recession – Evidence Pack
2. Social Impacts of the Recession: The impact of job loss and job insecurity on social disadvantage

QANTAS will increase international airfares by up 5 per cent this week, offering further evidence that the recent run of exceptionally cheap air fares is ending.

In its first international fare increase since June last year, Qantas will raise first-class and business-class fares by 3 per cent on Friday. The increases will affect popular routes such as Britain, Europe, Singapore and Hong Kong but not the hotly contested routes to the US, reports The Australian.

Premium economy and economy tickets will rise by 5 per cent, reflecting the relative strength of the leisure markets as travellers responded to the cheaper airfares and a high Australian dollar. These increases apply to wider range of destinations that include North America.

“Qantas reviews pricing continuously on all routes, taking into account demand and capacity, competitor actions and business performance,” a Qantas spokeswoman said.

Qantas has already been successful in raising domestic airfares by 5-10 per cent and desperately needs to get international fares up to improve yields, which in October were 24 per cent down on the previous year.

Qantas will test the water to see whether the increases affect passenger loads and whether competitors match them.

But even if the new fares stick, increased competition and continuing market softness is unlikely to see ticket prices return to previous high levels any time soon.

Read the full report in The Australian.

Source  :  www.news.com.au

Title: Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) :18 Weeks Referral to Treatment Standard

Skinny: This Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) provides an assessment of the impact of the 18 weeks referral to treatment standard on the six key equality dimensions of ethnicity, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation and religion or belief

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication:21p.

Published: 13/11/2009

If you’ve had lost a loved one in a wrongful death accident in the city of Ladera Ranch or in a nearby community, you may be wondering when is the best time to hire a Ladera Ranch Accident Lawyer. As an accident attorney with millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar or larger settlements from over thirty years of experience in or around Ladera Ranch, other nearby cities and internationally, the answer is as soon as you’ve had some time to grieve.

Soon after an accident, an insurance company adjuster, however, may be calling you to try to make a quick settlement and take advantage of your vulnerable situation. At the first moment you receive that call, the best thing you can do is to tell them you are too much in grief to discuss the loss of your loved one and to call our office for a free consultation.

If you’ve been the victim of a car, motorcycle, bike, truck, pedestrian, bicycle or auto accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been the victim of a dog bite or animal attack, you can visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com for more information and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.

First, you need to know that insurance companies evaluate cases two ways. As soon as you begin negotiating with the insurance company yourself, they evaluate your case, unfortunately, in terms of a nuisance value matter. They’ve settled tens or hundreds of thousands of cases with individuals before for paltry amounts and if you try to handle your case yourself, they will expect they can settle your case for a measly amount as well.

Why do they look at you as if you’re chopped meat? As soon as you tell them you are negotiating your own settlement, they know you’re trying to save money. To them, that means you may even be desperate. They also know you won’t be as knowledgeable about their tricks and tactics and like those tens or hundreds of thousands of people before you, they know how they can play you until you either become so frustrated you settle for their bad offer or become panicked that your time is running out.

The second way they evaluate a case, namely one presented by a lawyer, is an analysis of what the case’s true settlement value is based on the attorney’s skill and experience, how prepared the case is for litigation in the event it doesn’t settle, and the actual value of the injuries and associated pain and suffering, wage loss and other out of pocket expenses.

To settle your case for the largest amount possible, which may even be the policy limits of the insurance policy, depending upon the severity of your injuries, you need to get the insurance adjuster to evaluate your case in the same manner they would as if an attorney were negotiating with them and they will only do that if you actually have an attorney representing you.

At the Law Firm of Sebastian Gibson, we obtain all of the medical records and bills relating to the decedent and pay the cost of obtaining those medical records and bills (the cost of which can range from $15 to hundreds of dollars) from each hospital, ambulance company, doctor, chiropractor, radiologist, emergency room billing service, etc. Some medical providers require us to use their authorization forms. Some require us to agree to their using a photocopy service to copy the records at a higher cost. Some medical providers require one fee for the bills and another fee for the medical records. Whatever fees there are, we pay them. Obtaining all of the medical records and bills is crucial to the proper handling of your case.

Just obtaining all of the medical records and bills is one of the most time consuming aspects of handling wrongful death cases. And, to make matters worse, we’re still not through with the medical providers. When the first settlement offer is made by an insurance company, we need to call each of your medical providers or their billing offices again to learn if there is any balance owing (and we are often on the phone repeatedly and for long periods of time to learn this information) and in many cases we need to send them another authorization form before they’ll tell us this information.

One of the first things we do in a case is to obtain a copy of the police report. This is a much simpler process. Some police departments charge between $10 to $40 for a copy, while other departments provide them to us for free. Once we have the police report, we then determine if it will be necessary to obtain witness statements and if it is, a private investigator hired by our office obtains these statements to support your claim. If photos of the scene would be useful to help prove the liability of the other driver and if the police did not take photos at the scene, we go out and obtain photos that can be used later in the handling of your case.

We also obtain earnings information in connection with your loved one on a wage loss form to determine the economic impact of the loss of your loved one.

We also take a good number of photographs of the car damage, and obtain copies of the vehicle repair bills and estimates and receipts for any items damaged in the accident vehicle.

In California you’re entitled to the cost of a replacement child seat if one was in the accident. If one was being used by a child in your case, we’ll obtain the cost for a replacement.

When we’ve obtained all of the documentation of your loss, we put together a demand package with a demand letter reviewing the facts of the accident and the negligence of the other driver that made him or her at fault, we discuss the injuries and medical treatment (based on what you’ve told us and what’s contained in your medical records), we itemize the medical bills, we discuss the loss of your loved one and how the loss has impacted your life, we discuss the economic aspects of the case and how we’ve determined the economic loss, and finally, based upon our experience we determine the amount of our demand and provide the insurance company with a deadline (40 days – the time allotted under the insurance code) for the insurance company to respond with their offer.

The demand letter varies in length. Some of ours have been close to twenty pages. Accompanying the demand letter are copies of all of the medical records and bills, color copies of the car damage photos, copies of the repair bills and estimates, any wage loss documentation and any other relevant items such as witness statements, etc.

The reason why, in most cases a client or family will receive more, even after an attorney’s fees and costs are taken out, is that insurance companies offer much more to an attorney handling your case than when you are attempting to settle it yourself. In addition, an experienced and reputable lawyer can also obtain reductions from your health insurance company and from any medical providers with a balance with regards to what amount has to be paid back to them out of any settlement.

Keep in mind that if you start negotiating your claim by yourself, it’s almost impossible for an attorney to persuade the insurance company to evaluate your case in the higher category type of claim.

At the Law Firm of Sebastian Gibson, Sebastian Gibson has been negotiating these cases with many of the same adjusters for decades, knows the tactics and negotiating style of them and their companies and knows how to refute the talking points their insurance companies train their adjusters to use in negotiations. For that reason we don’t employ paralegals with questionable negotiating skills to handle our cases. When you retain Sebastian Gibson to handle your case, Sebastian Gibson is the attorney that negotiates your settlement.

What causes many attorneys to be unable to settle their cases and who then find themselves with no alternative but to file a lawsuit in court and face two to five years of litigation before the matter settles or goes to jury, is to get angry (some even scream and yell) with the adjuster, box themselves into a corner and tell the adjuster something along the lines of, “If that’s the best you can do, we’re filing suit.” The adjuster’s response to this is naturally, “go ahead.”

An insurance company doesn’t really care if they have to dump your case onto the case load of their attorneys who are already handling tens of thousands of such cases. One more case, makes no difference to them at all. They also know, you may give up or settle for even less when you learn from an attorney how much just the court costs will be. Just to file a lawsuit in most courts alone incurs a $350.00 or larger filing fee. Depositions can cost over a thousand dollars if they are lengthy. And all such court costs come out of your settlement, even if you have a contingency fee attorney handling your case.

Sadly, many of these same lawyers take this step or let their improperly trained staff members (secretaries and clerks) force the matter to such an impasse and then file suit without properly informing the client of the negotiations that took place and led them to that point.

With thirty years of experience, we know there’s no need to be unpleasant to an adjuster. Yes, we often hear an insurance adjuster evaluate a case to be worth much less than we think it’s worth. But we also know when they do, that’s just their first offer. We continue to talk and communicate with the adjuster on your case. We tell them how the loss has affected your life and tell them what you still go through today. You’ll be surprised how many adjusters will actually relate to what we tell them.

Unfortunately, just as there are bad attorneys out there, there are also some unsympathetic insurance adjusters and insurance companies to deal with as well. They’re supposed to get back to an attorney in 40 days with an offer after it’s presented to them with our demand package. Some take longer. And once they make their first offer, it can take weeks sometimes to reach the adjuster again to make a counter-offer. Sometimes the negotiations can take months, sometimes only days. If you want to get the most you can for your case, you need to be patient. One of the things we always try to do, is to get an unpleasant insurance adjusters to warm up. I ask them how the weather is, how they’re doing, if their busy, anything to get them to open up to me. You’d be surprised how far a little kindness goes.

The law firm of Sebastian Gibson handles personal injury cases in Ladera Ranch, and throughout Southern and Central California and handle wrongful death cases throughout the state. To learn more about Sebastian Gibson and the other areas of law handled by the law firm, visit the Sebastian Gibson website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com and call us if you’ve been seriously injured in a personal injury auto, motorcycle, car, truck, pedestrian, or bicycle accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been injured in a dog bite or animal attack in Ladera Ranch.

If you’ve had a truck accident in the city of Ladera Ranch or in a nearby community, you may be wondering when is the best time to hire a Ladera Ranch Accident Lawyer. As an accident attorney with millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar or larger settlements from over thirty years of experience in or around Ladera Ranch, other nearby cities and internationally, the answer is as soon as you know that your injuries are going to require ongoing medical treatment.

If you aren’t hurt or if you’ve only seen your personal doctor for a checkup and you’re basically fine and won’t be needing any more treatment, you really don’t need an accident attorney. The insurance company will probably pay your medical bill and give you a couple hundred dollars in what they would consider to be a nuisance value settlement.

However, if you’ve been to the hospital and been checked out because your impact was considerable, or if your vehicle sustained $1,500.00 or more in damage and you’re sore and stiff from the accident, even if your doctor is just prescribing you pain killers and has no plans to recommend more treatment, you should see an attorney as soon as possible. Too many doctors and health plans limit the amount of treatment they will give you unless you press them into being more attentive to your injuries. A serious impact can cause significant injury and the best thing you can do is to receive the treatment that will do the most good to relieve your symptoms.

At the Law Firm of Sebastian Gibson, we can’t and don’t practice medicine. But we can advise you how to obtain the medical treatment you need from your health insurance plan and if you have no medical insurance or medical coverage on your car insurance, provide you with a list of doctors, therapists and chiropractors in your area who will treat you on a lien basis and wait to be paid until the conclusion of your case.

If you’ve been the victim of a car, motorcycle, bike, truck, pedestrian, bicycle or auto accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been the victim of a dog bite or animal attack, you can visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com for more information and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.

First, you need to know that insurance companies evaluate cases two ways. As soon as you begin negotiating with the insurance company yourself, they evaluate your case, unfortunately, in terms of a nuisance value matter. They’ve settled tens or hundreds of thousands of cases with individuals before for paltry amounts and if you try to handle your case yourself, they will expect they can settle your case for a measly amount as well.

Why do they look at you as if you’re chopped meat? As soon as you tell them you are negotiating your own settlement, they know you’re trying to save money. To them, that means you may even be desperate. They also know you won’t be as knowledgeable about their tricks and tactics and like those tens or hundreds of thousands of people before you, they know how they can play you until you either become so frustrated you settle for their bad offer or become panicked that your time is running out.

The second way they evaluate a case, namely one presented by a lawyer, is an analysis of what the case’s true settlement value is based on the attorney’s skill and experience, how prepared the case is for litigation in the event it doesn’t settle, and the actual value of the injuries and associated pain and suffering, wage loss and other out of pocket expenses.

To settle your case for the largest amount possible, which may even be the policy limits of the insurance policy, depending upon the severity of your injuries, you need to get the insurance adjuster to evaluate your case in the same manner they would as if an attorney were negotiating with them and they will only do that if you actually have an attorney representing you.

The most important thing you can do as a client is to receive proper medical treatment and to start receiving it as soon after your accident as possible. If you wait more than a few days, an insurance company will claim that you must not have been very seriously hurt. If you wait a few weeks, your case is often worthless or nearly worthless. An insurance company’s view is that if you’re hurt, you’ll find some way to see a doctor and if you don’t have money and you’re hurt, you’ll at least go to a county hospital where you can be seen.

As your attorney, we can also direct you to doctors and therapists who will treat you and wait to be paid until the conclusion of your case. These medical providers accept liens on your case so they know they will be paid eventually, even if you don’t have any money now.

While it’s not the policy of our law firm to suggest you receive treatment you don’t need or to build a mountain out of a mole hill as they say, we do want you to recover from your injuries and if you are truly in pain and have medical problems as a result of your accident, the best way to recover is to receive the medical treatment you need. Once you’ve recovered, you should cease your treatment. The moment an insurance company or a doctor feels you are malingering or exaggerating your symptoms, your case is ruined in our opinion. We therefore always want you to be completely honest both with us and with your medical providers.

At the Law Firm of Sebastian Gibson, we obtain all of your medical records and bills and pay the cost of obtaining those medical records and bills (the cost of which can range from $15 to hundreds of dollars) from each hospital, ambulance company, doctor, chiropractor, radiologist, emergency room billing service, etc. Some medical providers require us to use their authorization forms. Some require us to agree to their using a photocopy service to copy your records at a higher cost. Some medical providers require one fee for your bills and another fee for your medical records. Whatever fees there are, we pay them. Obtaining all of your medical records and bills is crucial to the proper handling of your case.

Just obtaining all of your medical records and bills is one of the most time consuming aspects of handling personal injury cases. And, to make matters worse, we’re still not through with your medical providers. When your treatment is complete and you have all of your medical records and bills and the first settlement offer is made by an insurance company, we need to call each of your medical providers or their billing offices again to learn if you have any balance owing (and we are often on the phone repeatedly and for long periods of time to learn this information) and in many cases we need to send them another authorization form before they’ll tell us this information.

One of the first things we do in a case is to obtain a copy of the police report. This is a much simpler process. Some police departments charge between $10 to $40 for a copy, while other departments provide them to us for free. Once we have the police report, we then determine if it will be necessary to obtain witness statements and if it is, a private investigator hired by our office obtains these statements to support your claim. If photos of the scene would be useful to help prove the liability of the other driver and if the police did not take photos at the scene, we go out and obtain photos that can be used later in the handling of your case.

We also obtain all of your wage loss information on a wage loss form from your employer if you suffered any wage losses or had to use up valuable sick time, personal time, or vacation days.

When we meet with a client, we also take a good number of photographs of your car damage, and obtain from you copies of your vehicle repair bills and estimates and receipts for any items damaged in your vehicle.

In California you’re entitled to the cost of a replacement child seat if one was in the accident. If one was being used by a child in your case, we’ll obtain the cost for a replacement.

When all your treatment is done, we put together a demand package with a demand letter reviewing the facts of the accident and the negligence of the other driver that made him or her at fault, we discuss your injuries and medical treatment (based on what you’ve told us and what’s contained in your medical records), we itemize your medical bills, we discuss your pain and suffering and how the injuries impacted your life, we discuss your wage loss and how we’ve determined the amount, and finally, based upon our experience we determine the amount of our demand and provide the insurance company with a deadline (40 days – the time allotted under the insurance code) for the insurance company to respond with their offer.

The demand letter varies in length. Some of ours have been close to twenty pages. Accompanying the demand letter are copies of all of your medical records and bills, color copies of the car damage photos, copies of the repair bills and estimates, any wage loss documentation and any other relevant items such as witness statements, etc.

The reason why, in most cases you will receive more, even after an attorney’s fees and costs are taken out, is that insurance companies offer much more to an attorney handling your case than when you are attempting to settle it yourself. In addition, an experienced and reputable lawyer can also obtain reductions from your health insurance company and from any medical providers with a balance with regards to what amount has to be paid back to them out of any settlement.

When individuals rely on insurance companies to pay your medical bills, and then simply pay a skimpy amount on top to an individual without an attorney, those claimants are giving the insurance company the right to determine what bills they think were “reasonable” and to obtain any reductions in the bills to save themselves money. When an attorney obtains a reduction in your bills or your health insurance company lien, the amount the attorney saves increases the amount of your net settlement and goes right to the client.

Keep in mind that if you start negotiating your claim by yourself, it’s almost impossible for an attorney to persuade the insurance company to evaluate your case in the higher category type of claim. At our law firm, while we’ll take on a case that may be months old where the injured victim has simply been receiving medical treatment, we won’t take on the case in most cases if the victim has already received a bad offer from the insurance company. At that stage it’s usually too late for an attorney to make much of a difference.

At the Law Firm of Sebastian Gibson, Sebastian Gibson has been negotiating these cases with many of the same adjusters for decades, knows the tactics and negotiating style of them and their companies and knows how to refute the talking points their insurance companies train their adjusters to use in negotiations. For that reason we don’t employ paralegals with questionable negotiating skills to handle our cases. When you retain Sebastian Gibson to handle your case, Sebastian Gibson is the attorney that negotiates your settlement.

What causes many attorneys to be unable to settle their cases and who then find themselves with no alternative but to file a lawsuit in court and face two to five years of litigation before the matter settles or goes to jury, is to get angry (some even scream and yell) with the adjuster, box themselves into a corner and tell the adjuster something along the lines of, “If that’s the best you can do, we’re filing suit.” The adjuster’s response to this is naturally, “go ahead.”

An insurance company doesn’t really care if they have to dump your case onto the case load of their attorneys who are already handling tens of thousands of such cases. One more case, makes no difference to them at all. They also know, you may give up or settle for even less when you learn from an attorney how much just the court costs will be. Just to file a lawsuit in most courts alone incurs a $350.00 or larger filing fee. Depositions can cost over a thousand dollars if they are lengthy. And all such court costs come out of your settlement, even if you have a contingency fee attorney handling your case.

Sadly, many of these same lawyers take this step or let their improperly trained staff members (secretaries and clerks) force the matter to such an impasse and then file suit without properly informing the client of the negotiations that took place and led them to that point.

With thirty years of experience, we know there’s no need to be unpleasant to an adjuster. Yes, we often hear an insurance adjuster evaluate a case to be worth much less than we think it’s worth. But we also know when they do, that’s just their first offer. We continue to talk and communicate with the adjuster on your case. We tell them how the injuries affected your life and tell them what you still go through today with the pain you still have. You’ll be surprised how many adjusters will actually relate to what we tell them.

Unfortunately, just as there are bad attorneys out there, there are also some unsympathetic insurance adjusters and insurance companies to deal with as well. They’re supposed to get back to an attorney in 40 days with an offer after it’s presented to them with our demand package. Some take longer. And once they make their first offer, it can take weeks sometimes to reach the adjuster again to make a counter-offer. Sometimes the negotiations can take months, sometimes only days. If you want to get the most you can for your case, you need to be patient. One of the things we always try to do, is to get an unpleasant insurance adjusters to warm up. I ask them how the weather is, how they’re doing, if their busy, anything to get them to open up to me. You’d be surprised how far a little kindness goes.

The law firm of Sebastian Gibson handles personal injury cases in Ladera Ranch, and throughout Southern and Central California and handle wrongful death cases throughout the state. To learn more about Sebastian Gibson and the other areas of law handled by the law firm, visit the Sebastian Gibson website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com and call us if you’ve been seriously injured in a personal injury auto, motorcycle, car, truck, pedestrian, or bicycle accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been injured in a dog bite or animal attack in Ladera Ranch.