Consumers Gde Hlth Care CL

Negotiating the maze of health care options is rarely easy, but Swartz and Isaacs explain how and why health care consumers should take their sometimes difficult role seriously. The authors are no strangers to medicine's vagaries: Isaacs is a professor of public health at Columbia University and an attorney who practices health law, while Swartz offers painful firsthand experience: she underwent complications in pregnancy, never diagnosed by her doctor, that finally required an emergency C-section. Together, they review laws and recent court decisions and give advice on how to get the best health care possible. In charts, they compare traditional insurance, HMOs and PPOs, and list the government agencies to contact in case of problems. Workplace health issues and workers' compensation legislation are not overlooked, nor are issues of AIDS and the law, covered in an extensive chapter. To their credit and our benefit, Swartz and Isaacs don't seem to leave out anything--from Medicaid, Medicare and Medicare Supplement Insurance, to long-term care, living wills, and the right to die. One chapter even tells a layperson how to find a lawyer--and initiate a malpractice suit. (Oct.)