Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

In insurance, the basis for a claim under the terms of an insurance policy. Any diminution of quantity, quality or value of property, resulting from the occurrence of some peril or hazard. The basis of claim on the part of a party to a lawsuit or an insurance carrier. Power dissipation refers to the energy…

In malpractice, a rule which bases the standard of care a physician owes a patient on the standard of care generally attained in a specific locality. The most restrictive form of the rule is that the measure of a physician’s duty of care to a patient is that degree of care, skill, and diligence used…

In Medicare, the geographic area from which a carrier derives prevailing charges for the purpose of making reasonable charge determinations. Usually, a locality is a political or economic subdivision of a State and should include a cross-section of the population with respect to economic and other characteristics.    

Efforts by the provision of information, argument or other means by anybody, other than a citizen acting in his own behalf, to influence a governmental official in the performance of his duty. Federal legislation government lobbying activities (title III of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946) does not define the terms lobbying or lobbyist. The…

The complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of the pregnancy, which, after such separation, breathes or shows any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord…

The last and greatest of an interesting line of English Quaker physicians, and the father of modern antiseptic surgery. He applied Pasteur’s germ theories of disease to surgery, showing that sterile conditions prevented surgical infections.  

In insurance, limits on dollar coverage contained in an insurance policy. Malpractice insurance generally contains such limits on the amounts payable for an individual claim, or in the policy year, e.g. $100,000 to $200,000, and $300,000 to $600,000, respectively. Excess coverage describes insurance with limits higher than these conventional amounts. It may also be used…

In the hospital insurance program of Medicare, a reserve of 60 days of inpatient hospital care available over an individual’s lifetime that the individual may use after he has used the maximum 90 days allowed in a single benefit period. A Medicare term referring to the pool of 60 days of hospital care upon which…

In insurance, a tabulated statement presenting mortality and survivor characteristics of a given population (employed men aged 20-25, for example). Used in underwriting to calculate risks. An actuarial presentation of the ages at which a group of males and/or females will die and from which mean life expectancy at any age can be estimated, based…