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medpundit |
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Monday, November 25, 2002Medicare has a large bureaucracy, but most physicians today will tell you it's a more reliable payer--and a less onerous overseer--than private managed care companies. Indeed, far from true "socialism," Medicare allows doctors and hospitals to remain privately employed. Medicare is very much more onerous than most insurance companies. In fact, insurance companies take their cues from Medicare. All that's wrong with insurance reimbursements and oversight was borrowed by the insurance industry from Medicare. The coding system for physician reimbursement is complex and confusing. They bicker about diagnosis codes for everything from lab tests to office visits and surgical procedures. They accuse physicians and hospitals of fraud and impose stiff financial penalties when what's really at issue is a disagreement with the interpretation of their byzantine office visit codes or hospital stay codes. They reimburse at a very low rate, which is why you read about doctors giving up Medicare to avoid going bankrupt. The day that a Medicare system becomes the only system is the day I’ll seriously consider giving up medicine. I'd rather work in retail than work under a system like that. posted by Sydney on 11/25/2002 08:18:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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