: About Me

Hi! My name is Liz Westlake, and I currently work at a large medical institution as a biller/coder. I live with my husband David in a suburb of Seattle with our adorable kitten Nellie. I love online games, and am currently addicted to World of Warcraft. I also love the Penny Arcade RPG episodes (if you haven't checked them out, you are really missing out!)

I write on just about everything, but do focus on health care and health insurance issues, as that's where I spend the majority of my time. I am currently working on obtaining my coding certifications, so don't have time to think about much else!

I know too much about ...

health insurance

Why I write ...

to help others understand how insurance works

My best moment ...

was my first date with my husband

Health & Fitness > Health Care Does Medicare's crackdown on doctors' profits help or hurt patients?

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After several years working in the medical billing/coding world, my experience is that Medicare's low reimbursement ultimately hurts patients by limiting the number of doctors willing to accept them as patients. Regardless of how we all feel about the relative prices for doctor services, the bottom line is that costs must be met in order for the doctor's office to remain open. If the reimbursement doctors receive from Medicare does not allow them to cover these costs, the result is that the provider will seek to limit the number of Medicare patients in their practice, or simply stop seeing...

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