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To: KLP who wrote (340956)	1/1/2010 10:19:45 PM
From: skinowski	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793926

what Medicare paid toward the bill was about 1/5 of the actual bill Wow! And the supplement paid 20% of 20%. Not too good. You need to find out about this -- doctors cannot charge Medicare beneficiaries more than the "Max allowed rates" - which are not far from what they "approved" for the surgery. Could be that under the existing rules they should not have billed you their full rack rate. ...The government and insurers have doctors in their back pocket for a long, long time. They are not up to any meaningful "resistance", imo. They'll try to adjust to whatever comes down next.

To: KLP who wrote (340956)	1/1/2010 10:35:33 PM
From: skinowski	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793926

I found this letter to NYT, published almost 20 years ago. As far as I know, it's all still pretty much the same. nytimes.com October 6, 1990 Medicare Maximums Were Fixed in 1984 Contrary to ''Medicare's Woes Found Worsening'' (front page, Sept. 6), under Medicare, physician fees are already limited. Physicians cannot choose to charge Medicare beneficiaries whatever they charge non-Medicare patients. In 1984, the maximum allowable charge a physician could bill a Medicare patient was frozen, and since then, only minimal increases have been premitted. And in recent years, many previously allowed fees have been reduced. Physicians who do not accept Medicare assignment must base their bills to Medicare patients on the maximum actual allowable charge set by the Health Care Financing Administration. Those charges were set in 1987 and are based on charges from 1984. Generally, they are significantly less than what physicians today charge non-Medicare patients. Although the costs of practicing medicine have increased greatly over the last 10 years, what physicians are permitted to bill patients is severely limited. MICHAEL H. GRIECO, M.D. President New York County Medical Society New York, Sept. 17, 1990 Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

To: KLP who wrote (340956)	1/2/2010 12:53:22 AM
From: MJ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793926

This is why we need to get the government 100% out of the medical business via Medicare. Yes I know this appears uncaring-------not so-----if we were to cut out the beauracracy that overseas Medicare the savings were be significant. Pelosi and Reid's Congress has not considered that the best option would be no Government run Medicare------- Think of the savings--------- 1. Government beauracracy eliminated with all of its accompanied expense 2. Doctors and their staff freed from filing numerous reports to comply with rules of Medicare-----eliminating the worry over treating patients because The Federal Government under medicare does not allow particular and state-of-the-art treatment for Seniors 3. No payment by the Government to the companies paid by the government to process Medicare information (there are at least two of these)-----eliminating another step in the payment process 4. Doctors, clinics, hospitals freed of the same complicated filings, approvals and communications------fewer staff needed to accomplish the billing process. Finally, the big benefit--------improved medical service and care for everyone. Just KISS---------Keep it simple stupid. mj@tiltingatwindmills