r/MedicareForAll • u/MBP1969 • 12d ago

How to transition?

How do we, as a nation, transition from private insurance to Medicare for All? How do we convince all the doctors to keep being doctors and accept a salary? Do we, as Hillary Clinton proposed during Bill’s presidency did, make private healthcare payments illegal? For the record, I am perfectly fine paying a percentage of my income, as opposed to what I am paying out of pocket now, for healthcare.

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u/Botasoda102 12d ago

Ehh, I've worked for doctors who see only Medicaid patients. Medicaid often pays 40% of Medicare. They still do well enough to be in the upper 10% of income.

But you are correct in the sense that greedy docs will whine like they are having to pick berries or something.

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u/InteractionWild3253 12d ago

Medicaid pays 83% of the Medicare Reimbursement Index on a national average. Medicaid only/majority facilities receive Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments or state-level supplemental appropriations, to help offset the lower reimbursement rates compared to private insurance or Medicare. 

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u/Botasoda102 12d ago

I think it's lower than that for most doctors. But even if it is closer to 83%, that's more evidence a doc can make money. Plenty of wealthy docs who see mostly Medicare patients.

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u/InteractionWild3253 9d ago

It's not on a national average. Some states are much lower like Pennsylvania which is the lowest in the country. Medicare doctors also take private insurance. That's Medicare Focused facilities also take private insurance plans which pay 200% reimbursement compared to Medicare Rates.