Doctors Don't Seem to Care for Medicare

By Stephanie Miles, Caring.com senior editor

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ID:

11155

First Published:

10-Apr-2008

Last updated on

Monday April 14, 2008

Related Topics:

care giving , friends , moving , health , insurance , understanding medicare , doctors , parents , medicare , health insurance , hospitals

Summary:

Although the vast majority of doctors accept Medicare, many place limits on how many Medicare patients they'll take in their practice because the government reimburses them at a relatively low rate.

2 Comments

1. Posted by Anonymous 5 months ago

   I agree, but just increasing Medicare coverage does not solve the fundamental health care system in the US. When you hear that the US spends ~14% of its GNP on Health care and the UK spends ~9%, yet the life expectancy in the UK is higher than in the US you have to wonder what is wrong. Given that our politicians are not prepared to rock the special interest group system in Washington, one wonders what it will take. I would have thought the AARP, as a special interest group which is known to have some influence would have been more proactive in this area. Perhaps it is, - the opposing special interest groups are presumably more powerful and the politicians roll accordingly.

2. Posted by anonymous 6 months ago

   I would add that putting political pressure on elected officials to increase the Medicare reimbursement rates is the only long-term solution to this crisis. And it is a crisis.