marichiko

In my case it does. I have Medicare parts A, B, and now D. The entire alphabet soup. It is hell finding a doctor who is accepting new Medi-alphabet patients because the government has cut the amount the Doc's get re-imbursed for such patients. I beleive I mentioned that I finally found a doctor 19 miles away in another town who runs some sort of officially designated clinic for people in rural areas. The Feds give him extrta compensation for keeping his practice in the bustling metropolis of Dolores, Colorado and accepting Medicare patients. He told me that otherwise, he wouldn't accept Medicare patients, either. I need to see a neurologist and get voc rehab therapy, but the closest place I can do this is 200 miles away in Grand Junction. Neurologists here won't accept Medicare referals.

I am actually in favor of national medicine, however. Rational national medicine. If the government wouldn't create set-ups like the one I outlined in my OP, it could save tons of money, re-imburse doctors at a reasonable rate, and all without having to raise taxes that much. For example, those 10 medicare techs who serve Montezuma County must make at least $20,000 - $30,000/yr, plus state benifits. That's at least $200,000 that could go to providing the residents of this county actual medical care - not one inch thick files of paperwork.