As ZeroCare ramps up, more and more hospitals are facing the fact that a growing majority of doctors are not accepting Medicare patients. This affects thre ability of the hospital to be able to treat those on Medicare unless it is by either an intern or resident.
I think that as doctors shed Medicare patients, more hospitals will have to join in, except for teaching hospitals. Teaching hospitals are typically either state supported or supported locally through a property or other tax.
Bottom line, it’s going to get really ugly with people yours or your parents’ age unable to get treated by a doctor under Medicare. But, the government will still collect the money from our paychecks and pretend that the status is still quo.
I don’t really follow what you’re saying about hospitals. If the hospital’s policy is to accept Medicare, then fine, all the hospitalists and other medical employees do by default. Individual physicians with hospital privileges may or may not, but if they don’t, they will only admit non-Medicare patients anyway and so it’s not an issue while they’re making rounds or doing procedures in the hospital. I think it is quite rare for any hospital to not accept Medicare, unless it is some sort of a specialized, private hospital (such as drug treatment, maybe).