Biomedical subjects

M Korcok

Publications and source records attributed to M Korcok.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1995

Medicolegal hell in Texas.

In the "war zones" of Texas, lawyers use billboards, television commercials and Yellow Page advertisements to announce their availability to help the "unjustly injured," and medicolegal lawsuits are as common as the rain that sweeps in from the nearby Gulf of Mexico. Almost 75% of the suits are dismissed without award or settlement, since many are plainly frivolous. However, even these can mean torment for physicians, who have to hire lawyers, answer charges, collect paperwork, take time off work for depositions and consultations, and then worry about how insurers will react the next time premiums are due--even if they are cleared. Texas estimates that defensive medicine practised because of legal fears costs the state at least $702 million annually, spending that is bound to continue as long as one lawsuit is filed annually for every 5.3 doctors in the state.

Advertising↗

PubMed1995

The brave new world of managed care.

Canadian hospitals that think they can charge higher-than-normal rates to foreign visitors are learning a lesson as US-style managed care moves north of the border. Dr. Robert MacMillan, president and medical director of Florida-based Insurance Claims Management Systems and past president of the Ontario Medical Association, says that south of the border US-style managed care has already hauled in the reins on wild expectations about high payments, and it is expected to do the same for Canadian hospitals that charge private insurers "as much as the traffic will bear." He says it is no longer uncommon for a large Toronto hospital to charge a foreign patient $3000 a day for care that can now be purchased in a US hospital for one-third that price.

Canada↗

PubMed1995

Takeover of Ontario Blue Cross may be sign MDs will soon face US-style managed care.

The privatization of health care is becoming a major issue on the Canadian health care agenda, with even the prime minister musing that the Canada's medicare system may no longer be able to cover all medical needs. This would appear to indicate that there will soon be a growing market for private health care in Canada, and the recent takeover of Ontario Blue Cross by an American company, the Liberty Mutual Group, is a sign this market is being recognized. Milan Korcok says the privatization trend holds major implications for Canadian physicians, who soon may witness firsthand US-style managed care.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance Plans↗

PubMed1995

Physicians targeted as abortion debate in US turns violent.

The last 2 years have marked a dramatic escalation in the level of abortion-related violence in both Canada and the US. Two physicians and two clinic workers have been murdered since 1993, and last November the violence may have moved north of the border with the shooting of Dr. Garson Romalis in Vancouver. Milan Korcok looks at the threats facing American abortion clinics and the people who work in them, and discusses steps that have been taken to protect them. He warns that the violence that has plagued the US because of this issue may now be moving across the border to Canada and other countries.

Abortion, Legal↗

PubMed1995

Proposal for Canadian-style single-payer health care receives cool reception in US.

Is health care reform dead in the US? It may be, if the reception given President Clinton's reform plan and a proposal for a single-payer program in California is any indication. There has been a dramatic move to the right south of the border, where people have lined up to oppose "big government" and additional government programs. Still, American proponents of a single-payer program similar to Canada's insist that the battle for reform is not yet over.

Canada↗

PubMed1994