Medicare and Medicaid Doctor Directory - How to find physicians who accept Medicare and Medicaid

If you receive Medicare and / or Medicaid, it can often be difficult to find a doctor, it was a general practitioner or specialist, will accept the your insurance company. Unfortunately, the schedule is set by the government have to decide many doctors out of the system because they simply do not offer much lower payments for Medicaid / Medicare Services, as well afford to pay part of the much larger papers in such patients resulted.

UnfortunatelyGovernment has a tendency to reduce the refund had to, not increase them, and do not appear in the actual cost of providing services could be interested.

Not only that, but private insurers are no longer willing to subsidize "public patients by paying higher prices, so the doctor can not move the ever-increasing costs to them.

As a result, at a time when more and more doctors are opting out of the system, the doctors themselves to addressing the Medicare and Medicaid patientsTypically, the number they used to, so that the search for a doctor who takes your Medicare or Medicaid insurance is not as easy as simply opening the phone book and make a call. In fact, it will likely take some real time and effort on your part.

It is not and has never been, any requirement that doctors treat patients insured by Medicare and Medicaid. Therefore, people with Medicare and Medicaid are increasingly in publicly funded clinics or emergencySpaces, not by law, you turn them off. Unfortunately, with emergency rooms for non-emergency health care is incredibly expensive, so that the lower reimbursement Medicare / Medicaid rates not financially wise in the long run.

So, as a doctor that will take place, the new Medicare / Medicaid patients?

Well, at first did not even expect to find a doctor, or you should not even just one or a hospital under Medicare / Medicaid patients will have to quickly make an appointment. Unfortunately, thedoes not happen very often. In fact, if you need quick emergency room care is probably your only option.

To track down Medicare / Medicaid provider, you can contact your local health or social service agencies to get more information and there are a number of Medicare and Medicaid physician directory online. While they do not guarantee you can make an appointment, they have access to information on the current provider.

In addition, you can click on the Medicare Web site atMedicare.gov or call her at 800-633-4227 (TTY 877-486-2048) to find Medicare providers in your area, although there is no guarantee that they will be accepting new patients. It's worth a try, though.

Also managed care is probably a better choice than private practice. HMOs are organized by private insurers a practical interest in the HMO doctors under the government insured patients, while pre-paid Health Plans (PHPS) usually run by hospitals or medical schools and often accept onlyMedicaid patients.

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