Medicaid Doctors
Physicians for years now have claimed that their practices lose money
 when treating Medicare or Medicaid patients.  Doctors use these 
assertions to portray themselves as yearning to offer treatment to the 
elderly or indigent but unable to do so due to economic realities. The 
specter of bankruptcy is often invoked.  Recent studies
 suggest that physicians may not fully participate in treating the newly
 insured Medicaid patients resulting from the Affordable Care Act.
The reasons physicians typically give for such refusals revolve 
around the notion that accepting new Medicaid or Medicare patients would
 bankrupt their practices.  Rarely, if ever, are such assertions 
questioned in the general press.  Doctors regularly employ this argument
 to forestall any reductions in physician reimbursement.
Are such claims justified, or are they used as a smokescreen when 
refusing care to some individuals for reasons other than economic 
survival?  The answer to this question depends on the specialty of the 
physician.
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