Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

A provision (usually included as an added feature of a policy primarily providing some other type of coverage, such as loss of income insurance) which entitles the insured to collect, up to a maximum established in the policy, for all hospital and medical expenses incurred, without limitations on individual types of medical expenses.  

Common name for pneumoconiosis, a chronic severely debilitating lung disease caused by inhaling coal dust and principally found among coal miners. Certain medical benefits for the victims of the disease are available under title IV of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (P.L. 91-173), as amended by P.L. 92-303. Lay term…

A fraction, whose numerator is the total number of births in a population during a given period and whose denominator is the total number of person-years lived by the population during that period. The latter is generally approximated by the size of the population at the mid-point of the period multiplied by the length of…

(Biological products biologicals) any virus, therapeutic serum, toxin, anti-toxin, or analogous product of plant or animal origin used in the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Biologics, including vaccines and blood plasma products, are regulated by the Bureau of Biologics, a division of the Food and Drug Administration. They differ from drugs in that biologics…

The period of time for which payments for benefits covered by an insurance policy are available. The availability of certain benefits may be limited over a specified time period, for example two well-baby visits during a one-year period. While the benefit period is usually defined by a set unit of time, such as a year,…

The minimum supply of health services which should be generally and uniformly available in order to assure adequate health status and protection of the population from disease, or to meet some other criteria or standards. Given that all possible services cannot be supplied to the entire population, it is surprising how little definition or discussion…

The amount of income lost to a provider because of failure of patients to pay amounts owed. The impact of the loss of revenue from bad debts may be partially offset for proprietary institutions by the fact that income tax is not payable on income not received. They may also be recovered by increasing charges…

In the Federal budget, legislative authority for the obligation of funds outside the normal appropriation process. Sometimes called backdoor spending. The most common forms of backdoor authority are borrowing authority (authority to spend debt receipts) and contract authority. In other cases, (e. g, interest on the public debt) a permanent appropriation is provided that becomes…

A program which educates registered nurses in a four-year college or university, the bachelor of arts or sciences degree being given upon graduation from the program. Classroom and laboratory teaching is principally provided by the college (usually by its nursing school) and clinical teaching by the college’s own or an affiliated hospital.