When I first arrived in our new town, I set out to find Mom a doctor. I got good referrals. Every office I called said that they were not taking new patients. This week I needed to go to the doc and called one of those offices. Suddenly, they are taking new patients.
Can a doctor legally refuse to take Medicare patients? No one has come out and said this, so I'm not sure now.
A hospital won't turn away someone if they can't afford treatment [per a law put into place by President Reagan], but a landlord can turn down a person if that person doesn't meet the income requirements to pay for said apartment and/or has terrible credit.
I think the denial of Medicare acceptance is discriminatory against an entire segment of the population - the retired/elderly - and there should be some system to ensure coverage is available. Maybe there should be a requirement that doctors or clinics/medical groups, whatever, accept a minimum percent of Medicare patients... If this was spread uniformly across the board, everyone would have to "share the pain"? Non-compliance could carry a penalty at tax time (any incentives or deductions currently available - I don't know? - denied?) Something! I've gotten to the point that if someone does accept Medicare I'm somewhat skeptical why - can't they attract enough "paying" patients and have to take the dregs? This is an issue I'm not seeing debated, or even acknowledged, by the current controversies...