[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

You can’t cut the cord in health care. Medicare and Medicaid are federal programs.

I'm very unfamiliar with these issues, so please don't mistake this for a rhetorical question. There are physicians who don't accept Medicare/Medicaid, aren't there? Then why can't hospitals refuse?

[pgkdan]

I guess because a physician can refuse to see a patient at his private office but a hospital is required to treat any one who shows up in the ER. If they don’t accept Medicare and Medicaide they close up.

[ebersole]

“There are physicians who don’t accept Medicare/Medicaid, aren’t there? Then why can’t hospitals refuse?”

Hospitals do have the right to refuse Medicare/Medicaid. However, depending on demographics,care/caid can be the primary payor of a significant amount of your patients. The lowest care/caid rate of any hospital I worked in was 29% and that was in a wealthier, predominantly caucasian suburb of large city. The highest rate of a hospital I’ve worked in was 83% care/caid rate (I think the other 7% was uninsured:))...not a suburban area.