There seem to be conflicting stories about that sort of thing. Some say that Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements are inadequate to cover doctors' and hospitals' costs, and that many are refusing those patients, and more are expected to refuse in the future.
I'm not sure what the facts are, but I think emergency care is the only thing a doctor or hospital is required to provide, so they can refuse to take Medicare and Medicaid patients as regular patients.
Maybe someone has the definite facts.
It’s still more Federal money coming toward their industry.
I posted another article from Florida where the medical industry respresentative quoted seems panicked that Scott may turn down the Medicaid expansion.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/2901471/posts?page=8#8
Any hospital in the United States that refused to admit a Medicaid or Medicaid patient in medical need (including non-emergency) would find its license suspended immediately.
I can tell you that under Tricare in the US, at least, doctors and hospitals do refuse to “participate” and will not accept the low reimbursements. Those that do accept Tricare on a case by case basis are cautious about what cases they accept. A friend of mine from the Philippines is currently in Arizona getting chemo for his colon cancer, and will later have surgery. He spent a lot of time trying to find a doctor that would accept Tricare. The Mayo institute will not accept Tricare.
Here is an example of the Tricare reimbursement/payment for him in Arizona, (each area of the US has different payment rates based on prevailing rates and are tied to the Medicare rates);
Example——I have a PET/CT scan tomorrow and the cost is
$4,230————TRICARE will be paying $1,034——and the provider will just accept that.
I had a mobile chemo pump installed in a main artery, it was going to cost about $3k in the PI————here the bill was over $5k-——but tricare paid $1,700—————again without any moaning from the provider.
The last example is pertinent for us in the Philippines. Tricare will reimburse us the $1,700 but since this is a cash and carry society, (and almost no providers will “participate” on a Tricare claim, and can’t be forced to), we must absorb the extra $1,300 that Tricare won’t pay, but we must pay to the provider before we can have the medical care.
We have been fighting this for a long, long time. And I know, many on FR will say that we should just go back to the US. The problem with that is the US Embassy/State Department will not allow most of our wives and children to immigrate to the US because are income is too low, (most of us live on our military pension and have no other income).
Add to that that the OBAMA admin wants us to pay higher deductibles and co-pays and is threatening to veto the DOD budget bill because Congress did not approve those fee increases in the bill.