Health care law encompasses the laws and regulations governing hospital and health care administration, and an understanding of health care insurance is integral to it. There are significant differences in the types and amount of coverage provided by various private insurance policies, such as HMOs, PPOs, disability insurance, and hospital indemnity insurance, just as there are important differences in the cost to the purchasers of health insurance. There are also public health care insurance programs. Elderly and disabled persons may be eligible for coverage through the federal Medicare program. The joint state-federal Medicaid program helps certain individuals, including disabled persons and low-income elderly persons, pay for long-term care and in-home health care.
Pierce is a Statutory Town in Weld County, Colorado, United States. The population was 884 at the 2000 census. The town is a rural agricultural community located on the Colorado Eastern Plains along U.S. Highway 85 north of Greeley. It was founded in 1869 and incorporated in 1918. It was named in honor of John Pierce, then president of the Union Pacific Railroad, in anticipation of the construction of an extension of the Union Pacific line southward into Colorado. The following year in 1870 it became a watering stop for steam locomotives on the newly built Denver Pacific Railroad . A box car was used as the first town post office, depot, and telegraph office. A depot was constructed in 1905 and demolished in 1963. As a railroad stop, it became a local shipping point for cattle, sheep, potatoes, beans, and sugar beets. The town underwent a decline in population (from 1,000 in 1976) and its economic base during the latter 20th century with the construction of highways that allowed more direct shipping of agricultural products. The town today consists of a small grid of gravel streets, with one paved thoroughfare (Main Street) west of U.S. Highway 85. The principal businesses in town include a grain elevator, as well as a grocery store, tavern, and other businesses along Main Street. The town also has a school, a volunteer fire station, a church, and a town park.