Andrew Fildes wrote:
> Simple. Private providers, government rebates. Thus the government
> controls the charges. Here a service provider can charge what they
> want but the patient gets rather annoyed if the govt. rebate is a
> long way below the charge. Even 'gap' insurance only covers to a pre-
> set level. Thus the service provider is under enormous pressure to
> conform and many hospitals and surgeons simply charge the rebate plus
> gap so that an insured patient sees no charge at all.
That, more or less, describes how Medicare (senior care) works in
the U.S. However, here, health providers decide either en masse that
they will no longer accept patients covered by Medicare or that they
will charge what they charge and _you_ are responsible for making up
the difference. There is no "enormous pressure" to meet a
government-mandated price. :-(
Steve
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