Los Angeles Healthcare Law Blog

Roughly 75,000 illegal immigrants work for restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The food service industry obviously has strict safety and health regulations for both restaurant facilities and employees -- but it can be hard to meet these regulations if your employees do not have health insurance.

St. John's Well Child and Family Center in Los Angeles is looking to help these illegal immigrants in the restaurant industry by offering a low-cost health coverage program that could not only benefit these workers, but the public at large.

When a person needs immediate medical attention the law says they are entitled to get it, whether they have the money to pay for it right then and there, or not. This is an issue of federal law. That means that if you enter a California hospital emergency room, refusal to authorize necessary medical treatment is outlawed.

A member of the California congressional delegation is raising concerns that that is exactly what may be happening at some facilities around the country. The lawmaker is Democrat Pete Stark. The target of his suspicion is Accretive Health, a national medical debt collection agency.

Of specific issue are allegations that Accretive Health has followed a practice at some hospitals of demanding that emergency room patients with outstanding bills pay up before being treated.

April is National Autism Awareness Month. It's been marked so far by a string of reports on a range of autism related issues covering everything from the spectrum of conditions that are now covered by the term, to speculations about numerous potential causes. If you live in California and follow current events, you probably have heard something related to the subject.

One item that seemed to start the ball rolling was an end-of-March announcement by federal health officials that autism is believed to be more prevalent than previously thought. That was followed by reports on research linking some cases to genetic causes, confirming higher risks in children of older fathers, or suggesting that a mother's being obese during pregnancy may play a role. The question we find ourselves concerned about is how this might affect health insurance claim disputes?

With the dust only beginning to settle from three days of U.S. Supreme Court hearings about the federal Affordable Care Act, there are pundits, some in California, who seem ready to declare that the high court has already made up its mind on the matter.

Attorneys familiar with how the court process works tend to steer clear of such predictions. It's never a safe bet to second guess what the nine-justice panel might be thinking based on the questions they pose during arguments. As important as this controversial healthcare reform law is, it's best to wait.

A final decision isn't likely to come out of Washington until perhaps June. Pending that, the law remains in force, as do all existing healthcare insurance regulatory laws. Anyone facing issues over wrongly denied claims or shortcomings in coverage ought to seek experienced legal help to resolve those issues.