Original Medicare plan is no longer accepted as the compensation does not equate...in other words the clinic receive more from a Part D managed plan... could eventually kill Medicare as it is known today...managed care plans hold down costs according to the article...the clinics lose money on traditional plans and "break even" on the the Advantage plans...if further cuts take place without relief after the 1st of the year, it will become much more difficult for seniors to find physicians who will take traditional Medicare and force the rolls of Advantage plans to grow...that is if seniors want access to health care. BD
When Connie Sawyer's longtime physician moved to Seattle from Sultan recently, she had a hard time finding a new doctor she liked. So the retired legal secretary turned to The Everett Clinic, one of Washington's largest chains of medical clinics, even though it is 20 miles from home. But the 71-year-old never got past the appointment desk. The doctor she wanted to see wouldn't take her because she is covered under the wrong kind of Medicare.Now 1,400 current patients of the The Everett Clinic are about to feel that same sting of rejection.
To keep their doctors, they'll have to switch to a different, managed-care Medicare plan.
Four out of five American seniors have Original Medicare, a fee-for-service plan that can be used with any doctor who participates in the program. The federal government pays the claims. The other 20 percent are enrolled in "private" Medicare Advantage plans, which are sold by commercial insurers and are set up either as fee-for-service or as managed-care plans, which generally restrict patients to a network of hospitals and doctors.
Local News | The Everett Clinic to stop accepting one Medicare plan | Seattle Times Newspaper
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