Mayo Clinic and Medicare

[butlertl]

Has anyone had an appointment with any of the Mayo Clinics and have Medicare as your primary insurance? I understand they do not accept the Medicare fee schedule and I will be responsible for the remaining bill. That could be a big bill.

Any advice?

Thank you

 

[tripete]

I do not have Medicare, but my first diagnosis came from Dr Pulley in Jacksonville (I got a second at Emory in GA), he is part of the university of Florida and has been helpful. Maybe this would work for you if Mayo is to expensive?

 

[djbailey]

We have Medicare and have been to one clinic at Mayo, Jacksonville since going on Medicare. All our charges have not been settled yet, but we also have BC/BS fed as a secondary. I expect before it is settled we will owe them some. The care they give is exceptional if you can get into the clinic. They have 4 clinics a month, most months, but can't get us in every 3 months. More like a 5 month rotation. Kind of frustrating, but the people are great.

 

[Graybeard]

I recently saw the CEO of Mayo interviewed by Charlie Rose on Bloomberg tv. He said Medicare has it all wrong in that they pay for procedures, not results. All the docs at Mayo are on staff, and don't profit from surgeries, etc. He said they lose about 40-50% on Medicare. They are trying to get other orgs to follow their pattern. I would go to Mayo if I didn't have VA, which is also results oriented, btw.

 

[Barbie]

we use to go to Mayo in Jax and only had Medicare. Never any problems. I think the bill for clinic after Medicare was around $400 but i can't really remember it was a few years ago

 

[nebrhahe53]

Try aa Als research clinic like the one in Houston. Any costs not covered by insurance are covered by the MDA. You pay nothing and get great care (as good as possible with a disease with no cure). there are many research clinics around the country-I think Johns hopkins is one.

 

[gooseberry]

I would call Mayo and ask what the typical cost is for someone attending clinic with Medicare. They should be able to tell you. Also I would ask about hardship grants. Alsa offers $1000 grants for a variety of purposes of which I would think treatment should be covered and possibly travel/accomodations.

 

[MaxEidswick]

>Try aa Als research clinic like the one in Houston. Any costs not covered by insurance are covered by the MDA. You pay nothing and get great care (as good as possible with a disease with no cure).

Ditto that!

Houston Methodist.