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Article: MEDICARE'S NEW RULE: YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE.(LOCAL)
- Article from:
- The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)
- Article date:
- March 18, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 The Virginian Pilot-Ledger Star. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: SCOTT HOLLERAN
If you are enrolled in Medicare
and every individual over age 65 is enrolled, like it or not - you have the right to choose your physician, right? Wrong. An obscure provision of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which went into effect in January, explicitly restricts the right to choose one's physician.
The new rule forbids a Medicare patient to pay for services covered by Medicare unless the physician quits Medicare for two years. This may sound like an arcane edict from Big Brother, but it's not. It is an exact application of Medicare's underlying philosophy. Under Medicare, you are entitled to health care; health ...