You are mistaken. Not all doctors take Medicare patients without an additional annual fee tacked on. My elderly parents were told by their docs that in order to remain a patient it will cost them several thousand a year up front. They can't afford that so they are losing their doctors and now have to search for new docs that take Medicare patients, assuming they can even find one.
"Fewer American doctors are treating patients enrolled in the Medicare health program for seniors, reflecting frustration with its payment rates and pushback against mounting rules, according to health experts.
Fewer American doctors are treating patients enrolled in the Medicare health program for seniors, reflecting frustration with its payment rates and pushback against mounting rules, according to health experts. Stefanie Ilgenfritz reports. Photo: Ben Sklar for The Wall Street Journal.
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The number of doctors who opted out of Medicare last year, while a small proportion of the nation's health professionals, nearly tripled from three years earlier, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the government agency that administers the program. Other doctors are limiting the number of Medicare patients they treat even if they don't formally opt out of the system.
Even fewer doctors say they are accepting new Medicaid patients, and the number who don't participate in private insurance contracts, while smaller, is growing—just as millions of Americans are poised to gain access to such coverage under the new health law next year. All told, health experts say the number of doctors going "off-grid" isn't enough to undermine the Affordable Care Act, but
they say some Americans may have difficulty finding doctors who will take their new benefits or face long waits for appointments with those who do.
More Doctors Steer Clear of Medicare - WSJ.com
