Garner Health Law Corporation

The Daily Journal first published this article, Health Care and the Laws of Nature, on August 8, 2018.

“If there is no God, everything is permitted.” – Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

The Laws of Nature

When science prevails over the laws of nature, controversy is near. Stories from antiquity warned against such hubris, like poor Icarus who plunged to his death during a maiden voyage with wings made from feathers and wax. Zeus intervened twice on the side of nature, first when he sentenced Prometheus to eternal torment for delivering the gift of fire to humanity, and again when he struck down love-stricken Orpheus with a bolt of lightning before Orpheus escaped from Hades.

Whether divine warnings or stories told to invoke fear, science celebrates similar transgressions as evidence that God may be man-made. Whether we live in a universe forged over billions of years or in just under seven days, what are the malleability of nature’s laws? In 1903 Orville Wright elevated above the ground for 12 seconds in a gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, but his legacy exists today in the context of war, travel and commerce. The impact from fire on an evolutionary timeline often omits reference that 10,000 years ago a spark may have transformed tuberculosis from an environmental microbe to a deadly disease that has killed more than 1 billion people. When science finally resurrects the dinosaurs, we can ask them about nature’s resilience. … Read more →

California Healthcare News first published this article, Health Care’s Latest Pissing Contest, on August 7, 2018.

“I dwell in possibility.” — Emily Dickinson

Episode 5: Insurance Strikes Back

Last March dozens of insurance companies filed suit in Florida against a hospital, a laboratory and a medical claims collection agency for more than $100 million. Earlier in March Anthem initiated an action to recover $13.5 million against a small hospital in Sonoma County, California allegedly creating an illegal pass-through arrangement for laboratory claims. In April UnitedHealthcare sued the owners of two laboratory companies in Texas for supposedly orchestrating a similar pass-through scheme that resulted in reimbursements of $44 million.

Across the nation, insurance companies and health care providers battle over the by-product of metabolism in humans. Historically used to make gunpowder, clean, tan leather and dye textiles, urine not only has a role in the earth’s nitrogen cycle, but the $8.5 billion spent in 2014 just testing the excretion exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s annual budget. Lately, clinical laboratories and health care providers have joined forces to test almost anything the human body can produce and/or eliminate, but at the center of health care’s recent controversy is a staggering 44 billion annual gallons of potential contraband, most of which usually goes to waste. A new gold rush has hit the United States health care system like a tsunami, although this liquid gold retains its color and has nothing to do with dinosaurs. … Read more →