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.
Chimacum is an unincorporated community in eastern Jefferson County, Washington, United States. It lies on the Olympic Peninsula at coordinates 48°0′42″N 122°46′10″W / 48.01167°N 122.76944°W / 48.01167; -122.76944. It was named after the Chemakum group of Native Americans that lived there until the late 19th century. Chimacum is the home of Chimacum Schools' main campus, which serves the unincorporated communities of East Jefferson County to the south of Port Townsend and north of Quilcene, including Chimacum itself, Port Hadlock, Irondale, Marrowstone Island, Oak Bay, Paradise Bay, Port Ludlow, and Shine. Probably at least in part due to the (arguably declining) prevalence of dairy and cattle farming in the Chimacum area, Chimacum High School's sports teams are the Cowboys. The Chimacum valley remains an agricultural area with many small farms and a farmers' market. The area is also served by local branch of The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry that celebrated its 90th anniversary in April 2008. Chimacum is part of the so-called "tri-area" of Chimacum, Port Hadlock and Irondale, in central-east Jefferson County. Betty MacDonald's The Egg and I, the book upon which the Ma and Pa Kettle films were based, described the author's experiences on a chicken farm near Chimacum. Linda Perhacs's 1970 album Parallelograms contains the poignant "Chimacum rain", a song inspired by Chimacum's natural beauty.