this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2024
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Medicare pays by cheque if the doctor provides you credit for the rebate, as a fraud control mechanism.
Medicare only allows electronic payments if the account is fully paid upfront (and then rebate claimed), or bulk billed.
So what, I'm expected to go out of my way to deliver it cause medicare cant figure out a better fraud system? Yeah... thats gonna be a no from me.
Some of the trouble is that paying upfront does provide confirmation that you did visit the doctor and paid for them.
Whereas an IOU for the rebate doesn't necessarily provide the same confirmation that a patient received the services provided.
I do think PDVC could be improved though with a threshold amount, rather than being based upon the absolutes of an account being paid / unpaid. A $100 payment made already on an account is probably enough of the patient's money to indicate that they did receive the service.