It has always been financially rewarding for doctors to take care of rich patients. People with more money…well, they have more money to spend on healthcare. But shouldn’t this more money/higher payment relationship go away in Medicare?
It doesn’t, and some recent payment reforms may be making matters worse.
Medicare is a federal program to reimburse medical costs in people who are disabled, have kidney failure, or are elderly. Under Medicare, the government determines reimbursement rates. If your favorite orthopedic surgeon takes care of Medicare enrollees, she doesn’t decide how much to charge the government for the care she provides; the government does so, based on a fee schedule.
