Everything But The Weed

Approved by:
Linda Maze, a Wedding photography Gainesville FL in Gainesville Florida

Opting out of Medicare starts with a philosophic alternative. While some doctors may find Medicare and 3rd party payers tolerable, many are starting to seriously ask themselves if they are doomed to continue practicing medicine in the current environment.

You should explore http://www.optoutmedicare.com :

1. you believe in free markets,
2. you beleive the doctor/patient relationship has been compromised by government and the insurance industry
3. you feel that you should work for your patients and not for 3rd party insurers including Medicare.
4. you find government regulation and bureaucracy crushing, and taking every bit of personal time you have left for yourself and your family. .

If you answered yes to any or all of the above listing , then learning more about your right to opt out of Medicare and 3rd party insurance is something you should investigate. . This site provides a tool to help you in this consideration. You may ask yourself whether participation in Medicare is consistent with your values. You may be able to serve your patients better-even Medicare-eligible patients-if you opt out.

Opting out of Medicare also involves an financialt choice. First, you must consider the risks you face for accepting the status quot : the continuing uncertainty of the SGR formula, the ever-growing threat of predatory Medicare “fraud police” (RAC audit) even for doctors who do their best to code correctly, the continual push for you to have less and less compensation, then make up the difference by seeing more patients, the high overhead associated with participation in government and insurance programs.

Opting out of Medicare may result in a loss of income -perhaps temporary, possibly permanent. But, consider what current government regulations may do to your future income, your ability to practice medicine as you see fit, and to your personal freedoms . Doing nothing does not forestall government-created erosion of your income and freedoms. Your practice may “recover” after opting out, leaving you with more time to see fewer patients, and relieving you of much of the severe penalties and voluminous paperwork that are destroying our profession .

It is also important to consider that the lost work and lost Medicare income are not at all proportional . Medicare will continue to pay you less while government regulations and associated administrative costs (time and money) will continue to escalate. The loss of a Medicare patient as a patient/customer means the loss of low compensation coupled with higher and higher costs. When you find yourself breaking even or losing money, you cannot make it up by seeing more patients. Opting out of Medicare may result in more time for yourself . Many doctors would happily trade some income for less stress and more time for themselves and their families. Remember, “they can’t tax your time off” (yet).

So why would you continue to accept Medicare? You may think that patients won’t pay you, and that patients won’t see you. It may feel like you are only providing care to wealthy patients. But, the truth is, patients from all walks of life are discovering that insurance without access has is not worth the price of “free care” . The uninsured, the under-insured, and any patient looking for better access to a real doctor are often more than willing and able to pay for your services your services are priced reasonably; services that are becoming a rare commodity.  And, significantly, with a direct pay model , the price is actually a REAL price.