Friday, October 9, 2009

Mayo Clinic Unit Stops Accepting Medicare

The October 9, 2009 Arizona Republic reports that, "Mayo unit no longer to accept Medicare".

Here's an excerpt:
One of the Mayo Clinic's two family-medicine practices in Arizona soon will stop accepting Medicare, leaving thousands of patients to pay out of pocket for routine doctor's visits or find a new physician.

...Hospital officials called the new policy a "two-year pilot program" and said Thursday that the changes are necessary because of low Medicare reimbursement rates.

..."Medicare now only covers about half our costs," [vice chairman of the executive-operations team at Mayo Clinic of Arizona, Dr. R. Scott] Gorman said.
If a "Medicare-for-all" system were implemented at the national level, expect to see more doctors declining to accept such patients.

This again illustrates the principle that "coverage" does not equal care.

(Via @aemenefee.)