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Originally Posted by Papa_lecki
So wait, a region with over 100,000 Medicare patients (most of whom have a solid secondary insurance) doesn’t have good health care.
It seems like a license to print money for a physician’s group.
Seems like an orthopedic would be bust beyond belief.
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Medicare Advantage plans and regular Medicare are on the lower end of payments to physicians. Younger patients who are employed and have health insurance reimburse doctors at higher rates than Medicare does. I remember when I worked in the biotech industry I was sometimes involved in discussions with physician offices about reimbursement for our oncology products. The physicians and practice managers kept track of the percentage of Medicare patients in their practices. The higher the Medicare percentage got the lower their reimbursement rate became. They obviously preferred private insurance and younger patients. So bottom line, an area like the Villages, with mostly Medicare patients, is not attractive to physicians or hospitals. That is why we don’t attract a large number of physicians to this area. Low reimbursement from Medicare equals low interest from doctors to locate here.