EARLY this year, Barbara Plumb, a freelance editor and writer in New York who is on Medicare, received a disturbing letter. Her gynecologist informed her that she was opting out of Medicare. When Ms. Plumb asked her primary-care doctor to recommend another gynecologist who took Medicare, the doctor responded that she didn\u2019t know any \u201d\u201d and that if Ms. Plumb found one she liked, could she call and tell her the name?<\/p>\n
Many people, just as they become eligible for Medicare, discover that the insurance rug has been pulled out from under them. Some doctors \u201d\u201d often internists but also gastroenterologists, gynecologists, psychiatrists and other specialists \u201d\u201d are no longer accepting Medicare, either because they have opted out of the insurance system or they are not accepting new patients with Medicare coverage. The doctors\u2019 reasons: reimbursement rates are too low and paperwork too much of a hassle.<\/p>\n