Trend going towards concierge medicine
If you are on Medicare, or about to go on Medicare, you might want to pay attention. Your doctor might wind up not being as available to you as you might think.
According to Forbes magazine, we will see more doctors go to concierge medicine and leave traditional Medicare. Author Toni King says if your doctor does that, get ready to write a big check.
“They get a lump sum for the whole year (like $1600 or $1800). Different fees for different services,” King explained.
KTRH medical expert Dr. Joe Galati explains why we're seeing this.
“The cost of doing business and running a medical practice is going up. The reimbursement from Medicare is going down. It is a losing proposition for many practices to continue to see a lot of Medicare patients,” Galati said.
Galati says we are going to see more of this over the next few years. King's has some advice for you to deal with what’s coming.
“If you are turning 65 and you don’t have a doctor, you better find one. A lot of doctors are not accepting new patients if you haven’t gone to the doctor.
And Galati says accepting new patients won’t be the only problem Medicare patients will have to deal with. He thinks some doctors will wind up retiring early because of the issue.
“We are going to see some physicians get out of medicine completely,. We are going to see physicians opt out and not take Medicare anymore,” he said.
