When doctors rely on the government to get paid

For those who back Medicare for all, consider this.

From the WSJ Health Blog, here’s a story saying that doctors would go bankrupt if 20 to 25 percent of their patients were Medicaid. Not only are payments low, it may take months to get paid. States with quicker payments had a higher proportion of doctors accepting Medicaid.

Speaking of delayed payments, Medicare is no better. Doctors in California, Nevada and Hawaii are dealing with late payments, some as long as 9 months for payments as high as $750,000.

This leads to a vicious cycle, leading physicians to turn away new Medicare beneficiaries. Oncologists are taking out loans, and some cardiologists are “doing the office laundry to save money.”

And these are the people some want to control all of American health care?

topics: medicare, medicaid

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