Replying to a message of bill swisher to Bob Ackley:

 bs> On 1/6/2010 3:24 AM, Bob Ackley wrote:

 >> You don't have an awful lot of choice as to whether or not to
 >> participate.

 bs> Actually I don't believe I do have to join.  Nothing in my
 bs> health care  insurance company, or the feds plan, require
 bs> me to join.  Spent quite a  bit of time reading brochures,
 bs> calling OPM, GEHA, and a series of emails  to a friend of
 bs> mine who happens to have been a personnel director at a 
 bs> largish Forest Service office.  The biggest problem will,
 bs> most likely,  be the inability of the medical industry to
 bs> realize it.  :-)

At one time it was - and it may still be - illegal for a provider to
care for a Medicare eligible patient without submitting a claim - or
at least notifying - Medicare of the fact.  Whether the patient is
enrolled in Medicare or not doesn't seem to be a consideration.

As I've noted, Medicare is not about providing medical care for the
elderly, it's about *controlling* the providing of medical care for the
elderly.

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