Darn it, 70% of Physicians in my area no longer accepting new Medicare patients.

That sounds considerably higher than the national rate Medicare is reporting.

There are pockets of the country, primarily in wealthier urban areas, where a growing percentage of doctors no longer take any insurance, regardless of their patients’ age...but that ain't South Carolina.

Here's the Medicare web site where you can see who DOES accept Medicare:
https://www.medicare.gov/physiciancompare/search.html

Where I live, Cleveland, all major hospital systems accept Medicare including accepting Medicare assignment. They do not bill patients for amounts above what Medicare allows.
I get the impression that they are losing money on Medicare patients from the way I have been assigned to a urological Nurse Practitioner. Some hospitals have trimmed staff and closed offices in areas where people are older or poorer.

I'm in SC and have had no problem with doctors accepting Medicare. Maybe it's because I live in Hilton Head which is full of retirees!
Bob

I am in upstate SC, and have never had any problems being accepted as a medicare patient.

Greenville and Spartanburg physicians have not been a problem for me, and I had only read about it on another thread here at HW. I thought it was just certain areas of the country and not here.

Was a surprise for my agent to tell me this while discussing other things.

Was not a problem for Emory, or Duke, so I shouldn't have any concerns.

I gathered it was more physicians than hospitals.

Sorry that I wasn't clear, this is a bummer to me in terms of overall trends, not that I am having any problems.

First, don't confuse Medicare with Medicaid. They are entirely different. Most docs do not take Medicaid, but that is not what seniors are on. Most providers do take Medicare, which is what we go on at age 65. Next, the local insurance agent is anecdotal and I don't really see his point of trying to scare you about Medicare. His insurance doesn't solve the situation.

Simply put, Medicare C, called Medicare Advantage, is private insurance funded by Medicare and is subject to specific networks and can have quite high out of pocket maximums in return for lower premiums. Your other option is to use Medicare A,B, and D and also purchase a Medicare supplement insurance plan. The network for the insurance plan is defined as any provider that accepts Medicare A and/or B.

All of my providers accept Medicare, so I have experienced no changes going from my employer sponsored plan. When I compared Medicare C versus A, B, D and a supplement; I found network limitations with C and the out of pocket costs projected much higher than the supplement plan due to ongoing treatments my wife has. Thus I am using Medicare A,B and D with supplemental insurance. For me it is better coverage and less cost.

As to the Medicare supplement plans, F is the most comprehensive, but I suggest that you should also look at G. G is essentially F, except you pay the Medicare B deductible of $166.00 per year. My plan G premium is about $350 less per year then F would have been. So I took G and will pay the Medicare B deductible and save about $200 per year which pays most of my Plan D rx coverage.

Northern Lights, the ACA had nothing to do with improving delivery and lowering costs. That was not the intention. That was just some of the hype that was circulated. If you read the bill, you will see that costs would have to rise due to the increased coverage, regulation and resulting bureaucracy. Moderators, that is not a political opinion but a factual statement that has been proven in practice. I believe more needs to be done to improve delivery and reduce costs, but it simply is not in the ACA. Also the ACA had very little to do with Medicare. The main thing is that it improved the Part D catastrophic coverage after one passes through the "donut hole". But, for example, in many instances Medicare supplement plans can be underwritten based on health conditions. This was eliminated for insurance plans for those under age 65.

I am another one that lives in Upstate SC. Have been on Medicare only for almost 6 years now. I have zero problems with any doctor accepting my Medicare.

And for some reason, with the acception of a single doctor I see (my LT PCP), I pay no co-pays ever. Nor do I get billed for co-pays.

I have seen every kind of specialist you can name during this time, all instantly approved, along with all the various scans ordered - CT, MRI, etc.

In my personal experience, I have received better care under Medicare than in all the years I was previously covered by Blue Cross of South Carolina.

Looks like one of those subjects that must have a lot of variables in it, from area to area. Even when I was sent to MUSC in Charleston a few years back, kind of a Center of Excellence, at least for SC, I was never asked for a cent at any point, nor was I ever billed for anything.

Went shopping for a new doctor in Idaho last summer and went through 12 before I found a community clinic that took new Medicare patients.
No problem in Palm Desert as I have had the same Dr for 8 years.
Availability of appointments has gone from 2 weeks to 4 weeks, so the medical system seems much more stressed than it was just a few years ago. I have to believe that the ACH is the cause. More patients with out any increase in doctors. The result is rationing health care, without officially rationing as other countries do.

Perhaps I worded the initial post poorly.

I am well aware of the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. It appears to be pretty common knowledge in SC, that in SC very few doctors accept Medicaid.

I knew that was currently the trend. Also, in discussion with life insurance agent he made a comment that many private physicians are no longer accepting new Medicare patients.

While I have personally had no trouble at all, and it appears from this thread that others have not had trouble, it was disturbing to me to possibly see a trend develop where Medicare would be following the path of non-acceptance which Medicaid has taken.

Actually, relating that at dinner the same evening with two other couples, one of the husbands of Medicare age has exceeded the ability of local physicians to deal with a neurological issue involving much of the use of one arm and has had difficulty scheduling appointments with two different specialists that the local physician referred him to. At this time, after months of trying, still no appointment has been made. I am uncertain as to how diligent an effort has been made to obtain an appointment.

I only became aware through a thread here at HW that certain parts of the country, various physicians are not accepting new Medicare patients. I thought it had not come to my area, and it appears that it may be starting to spread to mine and other areas.

I will note, that at first glance it appears that large hospital systems by their nature must accept Medicare to continue operations. The problem seems to be that some physicians and practices are no longer accepting Medicare as payment for new patients. This is a disturbing trend in some areas that may well be spreading.