Doctors opt out of Medicare

[gorfle]

Source: CNN

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Read more: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/03/02/n_no_medicare_opt_out_MD.cnnmoney/

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[Donnachaidh]

1. this is no surprise -- plenty of doctors refuse Medicare

That's why it's ironic how much *medicare* is considered the magic bullet to fix all our problems. Until doctors nationwide are REQUIRED to see a certain percentage of Medicare patients in order to get licensed, you're going to see more of this. :shrug:

[AngryAmish]

2. Mandating seeng a percentage runs into 13th Amendment problems.

[jberryhill]

6. No it doesn't

Get a license to practice law in New Jersey, and then come back and tell us all about the 13th Amendment.

As a condition to practice law in New Jersey, every attorney is subject to be called to provide counsel in criminal cases to defendants who cannot afford counsel, at a fixed low rate determined by the state.

[RantinRavin]

11. Then why does New Jersey ask attorneys that are interested to join the pool

Along with an application form. If it was required, they would not need to appply.

www.state.nj.us/defender/PoolAttorneyApplicationProcess_8-25-08.rtf

[jberryhill]

16. Because you can volunteer for it as well....

...but any attorney can be called on a mandatory basis.

Volunteering exempts an attorney from mandatory assignments:

http://www.probononj.org/mandatory.aspx

By stipulation of the New Jersey Supreme Court, attorneys who volunteer to provide free legal assistance through a Legal Services program or a pro bono program that has been approved by the Supreme Court, and perform a minimum of 25 hours of pro bono service, will be exempt from court-mandated assignments the following year pursuant to Madden v. Delran, 126 N.J. 591 (1992).

[Craftsman]

3. How fascist of you.

[wolfgangmo]

12. It wouldn't be a problem with universal single payer.

Hi, I own a medical clinic (no we don't "take" any insurance including medicare in order to keep our prices down and our doors open) and this would not be an issue if 2 things happened.

Either fund medicare so that payments exceeded, if only slightly, costs of providing the service. No one can afford to keep providing services at a loss.

But more importantly get single payer in place in the US. If it were (even medicare for all) it would eliminate this problem because; a) it would lower the costs of practicing medicine (doctors need to hire about 3 billing specialists to fight the insurance companies in order to get paid enough to keep their doors open), b) it would lower the insurance costs because single payer systems are MUCH MORE EFFICIENT than piecemeal private systems, thus lowering everyones costs including the doctors, but also allowing more money for flow from insurance to provider.

A big problem with the insurance vs cost debate is that it is a game that the docs are forced to play in order to get paid. Insurance companies have many tricks to keep from paying docs. They will not pay what they owe until the regulated deadline (usually 6 months), or they will deny the claim and make the docs spend time away from patients explaining to some minimum wage drone reading what is on the computer screen, why they should say yes to honoring their contract with thier patient (this is unpaid time FYI and can take up to 50% of all working hours for doctors).

Do you know any other professional that spends 50% of their time having to justify why they should get paid for something they already did?

[stray cat]

4. Doctors don't want the massive paper work for reimbursements that are a joke

It takes money to run medical practices and Medicare doesn't pay for it - my insurance does - it has to pay for me and make up the difference for non-insured and Medicare and Medicaid

[peace13]

8. I don't know about your insurance but...

I see that my doc has to bill for the longest appointment in order to be reimbursed a decent amount. Let's say they bill $145, I pay $20 and the insurance pays $55. The insurance is a scam and makes liars out of docs. It does not make for good medicine.

[fasttense]

5. I don't trust CNN. They are more like Fox News II than like real news. n/t

[MineralMan]

7. I'm afraid I don't see how this is breaking news in any way.

Many doctors have refused Medicare patients for years.

[mac56]

9. yeah, where's the "new" in this news?

Idoan geddit.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. There was a major cut in Medicare reimbursement quite recently

My doc is refusing to take on new Medicare patients and is working with those she has to make sure their secondary insurance (if available) is participating.

[hunter]

10. Doctors are opting out of insurance plans too.

Some doctors are requiring patients to pay up front and file their own insurance paperwork. Others are modeling their practices as subscription plans. You pay a subscription fee and the doctor will see you when you call. It's not health insurance because it doesn't cover anything but the doctor's time.

Primary care physicians of all sorts -- pediatrics, internal medicine, family medicine -- are not getting paid enough by Medicare or the health insurance industry to support their medical practices. The personal investment required to become a doctor and maintain a practice is extremely high. Primary care physicians who accept Medicare and crappy insurance plans are subsidizing the government and the insurance companies or else they are running their practices like fast food places or factories and don't really know their patients at all except by their complaints.

[Douglas Carpenter]

13. here is the average net income of neurosurgeons in the U.S.

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Neurosurgeon/Salary

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. Try looking that up for family practice and other first line providers

[w8liftinglady]

17. gotta come to the defense of neurosurgeons here...

8+ years of med school residency and fellowship...and they are operating on the most crucial organ in the body.I want the cream of the crop operating on me(since I am having neurosurgery soon).200K plus in student loans...

[hunter]

18. I think I'd rather be a professional basketball player.

But the odds of me becoming a pro basketball player are about the same as they are of me becoming a neurosurgeon... ZERO. I have no binocular vision, I'm clumsy, I'm frequently an idiot, and sometimes my meds make my hands shake.

Mostly I'm not willing to take on extreme debts and spend a decade of my life immersed 200% in rote skill building, intense academic study, and repeated unavoidable incidents of extreme terror and tragedy.

Do I begrudge a neurosurgeon with twenty years experience earning half a million dollars a year? Never.

[Biker13]

19. Here in our part of Idaho...

there is only one clinic that takes new Medicare clients. Thank God for the V.A.! The only problem with this is that the local V.A. hospital is really only a clinic, and for anything other than small stuff, you have to go to Salt Lake, a 3 hour drive!

Non-Vet Medicare patients are forced to go to the local emergency room.

There has to be a better way!


Biker's Old Lady

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. Here is an option, perhaps. Check and see.

http://www.needymeds.org/free_clinics.taf