Ironically Medicare is at the core of all these questions.
Firstly; Can anyone tell me why every Medicare claim for payment by our doctors has an automatic Medicare Item Number for a sum in the vicinity of $8.00? I am told it is for such consumables as a wooden tongue depressor or the like which I would have thought came with the practice costs.I have my complete Medicare history and there are hundreds of these payments.
Secondly; Once upon a time when we went to the doctor there was a claim form with the item number embossed along with our Medicare card and we got a copy thus knowing what the government was being charged for on our behalf. Now it is an automatic process initiated by the receptionist at the behest of the doctor who can claim what he wants without any oversight. How many single consultations turn into doubles each day? A lot of extras can be earned.
Thirdly Medicare has done away with cash rebates. Now you have to provide your bank details for direct payment. Everybody has a Medicare Card there therefore the government now has everybodies bank details. Why? Hullo George Orwell.

Dear Chris,

So why do you have any dealings with Medicare to begin with?

What makes it right to demand that other people pay for services that you or your family require?
Then even while doing so you still complain that they have your information?

If you require medical services, then just pay for them, in cash (unless you are truly poor and hungry, but then it seems that you still have an internet connection, so give it up first). This way you won't need to give the clinic any numbers or personal details!

No, you don't have to have a Medicare card. Even if it arrives in the mail you can chuck it straight in the rubbish bin. All you are legally required is to pay that 1.5% tax (soon becoming 2%).

The more people ignore Medicare and pay for their own medical needs, the more the government will have to abolish their red-tape procedures and the public-servants that handle them - and the more the doctor will be accountable to you, the customer, and to none else.

Y you baffle me with your question to Chris.
Are you sure even private patients do not see some medicare billing as well?
Chris has bought up an interesting truth.
We know, if we have bothered to keep up to date in this area, the country is short of non suburban Doctors.
And the ability to make more money in citys than the bush may play a roll.
And I am unsuprised by what looks like thieving from the public purse shown here.
We, and the western world,look after our sick better than others.
But once on the governments payroll, payments are out of control.
We must do some thing but what?
Any move will have impact, some we do not expect.
Socializing health further is no answer, privatizing it, increases costs as Chris has shown.

Dear Yuyutsu,
I would love to give it all up but "fear is the key" and yes I just had the pleasure of paying (cash $220) to a doctor for 15 minutes of his time. That equates the roughly $880 p/h or $35,200 p/w or a staggering $1,830,400 a year. Realistically no one is worth that much.
From your post I feel a lot of Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged) am I right.
I simply feel something is wrong somewhere.

Dear Chris,

I wouldn't go as far as Ayn Rand as I really feel that she was too extreme. I do believe that the state should help those who really have no money for their medical expenses, but it should be done as a last resort, not as a standard routine of middle-class welfare.

Perhaps the numbers you mentioned are exaggerated because doctors do have significant overheads and cannot only receive patients non-stop, but yes, doctors can currently charge as much as they like, regardless whether they are competent or not, because the state foots the bill.

Dear Chris,

<<I would love to give it all up but "fear is the key">>

That's what insurance is for, I mean true private-insurance, rather than the current compulsory scheme that is really just another tax. An insurance where you can set exactly what you want to be insured for and cannot otherwise afford yourself. You could for example set a lower limit of $10000 or $50000 which you can pay yourself and only have the insurance cover those rare treatments and operations that cost more; or you could insure yourself and your family to receive overseas and alternative treatments if needed.

Dear Belly,

<<Are you sure even private patients do not see some medicare billing as well?>>

What if you just refuse to give them your Medicare number?
What if you insist paying it all in cash?
I thought that the doctor is obliged under Hippocrates' oath to treat you in any case...

At the last resort, if the receptionist is so thick-headed, you can tell her that you are a tourist.

<<Socializing health further is no answer, privatizing it, increases costs as Chris has shown.>>

The answer is to make Medicare optional.