does medicare pay for a chest x-ray needed for volunteer work?
106560
I would say no ..but look into it call ur case worker and ask
398939
Most people get Medicare part A automatically when they turn 65 and they or a spouse have 40 work credits.  Part B, if the beneficiary chooses to accept it, costs 88.50 per month in 2006 and is deducted from the beneficiary's Social Security check.  Part B covers doctors office visits, labs, and tests perfomed in an outpatient setting.
182702
The dentist owns the X Rays and must keep them on record for a min. of 7 years for legal reasons. You of course have the right to get copies, but they may charge you a fee for copying them.  $20 is really not to bad some dentists charge as much as $50 for the copies.
1113398
Has she applied for Medicare/Medicaid? That should be her first step. If she can't qualify contact a not for proffit hospital and ask for a patient advocate/social worker, generally if you can prove hardship and that the procedure is necessary they will do the procedure on a sliding scale or the advocate can help you find other options to get this paid for.  It will probably depend a lot on how necessary the surgery is. Of course it's necessary to you and her, but in the eyes of the person paying, if they deem it necessary you could get a break.
1010439
Many insurances will pay for breast reduction if there is documentation in your medical record showing problems relating to large breast size.  Specifically, if you have chronic back and shoulder pain because of your breast size, and if this is documented in your medical records, you might be able the get the procedure fully covered by insurance.
1034875
Short Answer:  Medicare is prohibited in US Code from making payment to other Federal Agencies for health care services.\n\nLong Answer:\nVA only recently (in the '80s) was authorized to bill any insurance for reimbursement.  Note, VA can only bill for non-service-connected care.  Any treatment for injuries or illnesses related to veteran service are not chargeable to third parties.  \n\nIn the 90's they finally came up with a 'reasonable charges' methodology, which linked charges to the level of care (vs. just charging a set fee for every visit or stay).\n\nBecause supplemental insurance companies don't know what they really should pay when someone has Medicare primary, VA started a program to actually bill Medicare, but NOT for payment.\nMedicare sends VA a remittance advice notice that indicates what coinsurance & deductible would be due IF they did pay, and then VA sends that to the secondary payer so they know how much to pay VA.\n\nSo, as a veteran, you should provide Medicare insurance information to the VA.  If you have a Medicare supplement, they will pick up the coinsurance & deductible amounts.\n\nConfused?  Contact your local VA and they can explain in person.
929733
In fact, you can.  Lead is very dense, the densest metal you can afford to buy or to use in day to day work.  X-rays penetrate dense materials much less then they penetrate less dense materials.  Lead reduces the amount of x-radiation which penetrates so much that, with the film sensitivity used for x-ray photographs, the amount of x-ray which gets through the lead does not make a readable picture.  Lead also helps protect from excessive x-ray exposure for the same reason.\n.  But, if you used a more sensitive film, and maybe a more powerful x-ray source, you could take x-ray photos through lead.  There is no practical reason to make such a powerful x-ray source for imaging applications, so lead serves as shield against normal x-ray strengths.  It is no so effective a shield that x-ray technicians will rely on a lead apron for their own protection.  Because they work with x-rays all day long, enough x-ray would make it through the lead apron to pose a health risk for them.\n.  Platinum is denser than lead, but is much to expensive to use as shielding.  Uranium is also denser, but its radioactivity makes it more of a radiation threat than the x-rays.\n.  So, just as you can see through a curtain with an infrared scope, you could, with federal funding, see through lead with x-rays.  There just isn't much reason to make the effort.
871138
The hospital will have a finance person that will qualify her for free care or reduced fees. I have done it, speaking from experience. You have to ask- the hospitol will not volunteer this info, even if you hint around it. Ask directly.
1186901
Yes and no.  Medicare deems some tests as experimental and does not cover them.  They also can deny charges for tests that are not medically necessary or limited frequency. Limited frequency tests can be denied if you have had  a particular test performed more than X time with in X months. Pap smears and PSA tests are a good example.  Medicare only allows 1 per year.  I know of at least one lab that notifies you in advance if there is a possibility of one or more tests (ordered by your MD) that may not be paid by Medicare.  At that point you have the option to proceed with the testing or chose not to those particular tests performed.
1122175
It all depends on your situation.  Some people are benefited by Medicare part D, and some people are harmed by it.  I work with a lot of people that are harmed by it.  In fact with the hundreds of people I have assisted with Medicare part D, I can think of 2 people that were helped by it.  \n\nI have seen people automatically enrolled in a plan that does not cover their meds, or worse, they were automatically enrolled in a plan that made them ineligible for their health insurance.  I have seen people in two plans, because when they enrolled in a plan that covered their meds, the plan the government enrolled them in did not dis-enroll them. I have seen people that did not have to pay co-pay in the past because they had very low income now having to pay the co-pays, unless their pharmacy decides to waive it. I have seen people that are only supposed to be charged a $1-$3 co-pay be charged a $40.00 and higher co-pay because their plan "did not know the individual was eligible for the low income subsidy", even though the individual provided that information to the plan. I have seen people that were denied their meds by their pharmacy because they could not pay the $40.00 co-pay, per prescription, when they should have only been charged the $1.00-$3.00. The people I work with can't even afford the $1.00-$3.00 so they surly can not afford $40.00. Then thier is the issue of the $250.00 deductable, which I won't go into.  I have seen people on hold for minutes to an hour trying to contact their plan to get the problems worked out.  Sometimes we could get it fixed wit one call some times it took more than one call.\n\nIn some cases I have seen people that have not been able to get their prescriptions filled because the wrong plan (the plan that does not cover the prescription) is showing up on the individual’s record and not the new plan.\n\n I have seen BUCKETS of mail (so much mail even our post office commented to me on SEVERAL OCCAISIONS "boy you guys have been getting a lot of mail") come in relating to Medicare part D for people I work with. I work with a small sliver of the population and if they are getting this much mail I cringe when I think about how many trees are being killed to make all of this paper. Much of this mail is junk mail because 1/2 of it is from plans that people should have been dis-enrolled from, the other 1/2 is from the plans that they should be in. All the Tax payer money that is going RIGHT IN THE TRASH CAN, makes me ill when I think about it.\n\nFrom my perspective, Medicare part D is a Disaster.  For some people though it does help. I am happy for the people that it helps, but for the people I work with it has been a huge thorn in thier side.
120386
Either way you go, there are still gonna be high bills to pay. We have private insurance, and last year, I had to pay $4900 in out-of-pocket expenses, not including the premiums. \n\nThere are some Christian medical expense share plans where you contribute a certain amount each month, and the member with the need gets the bills paid. When you need bills paid, they get paid. I'll put a link below to an article that talks about them, and has links to the top plans.
282664
you need a prescription for it, then it's probably covered. That's how it is with insurance cos. Plus if you shop around, some meters are really cheap anymore if not free. I bought one for $10 on sale at Walgreens. It's the testing strips that cost a lot. Tell your doctor you're on medicare. My D-in-law is, her doctor gave her a free meter.
454763
Many facilities offer "whole body" CT scanning.  They are not covered by health insurance, and they do not require a doctor's order (actually, the radiologist at the facility which performs these is considered the ordering physician, because ALL imaging procedures require a doctor's order, except yearly screening mammograms.  This is federal law).  You can do a Yahoo or Google search with "whole body CT scanning" and your town/county/area to find a facility near you.  You can read about these scans (including the controversy) at the link below:\n\nhttp://www.fda.gov/cdrh/ct/screening.html\n\nA word of warning about these whole body scans.  If they show a possible problem which needs more follow up, your insurance may not cover that follow up either.\n\nIf you are adamant that you want a CT scan, consider another physician.  But remember, if we did a CT scan on everybody who had an ache or pain, health care costs would be outrageous.  Many times, your symptoms do not warrent a CT scan.  CT scans are not good for every process...they are not a find all.  You should ask your physician why he/she does not believe you need a CT.  There may be a very good reason.  \n\nBy the way, I cannot remember ever doing a CT scan because someone could feel lumps under their ribs.
728335
yes...It is...so would volunteering @ a hospital/nursing home
210440
I'll say it seems like a good idea, but one just need look at countries where this is done to see the draw backs.  Some countries have waiting lists to perform heart surgeries, muchless elective surgeries.  Next look at how most these countries can't provide enough doctors, muchless nurses, and the waiting times to get in just for a common cold visit.  I think the government should help out those that can't afford it, but there's no reason the government should pay for everybody.  Heck if the government paid for the poors health cost, health insurance would be more affordable, and those without it might be able to pay the bill.  Unpaid health costs from the poor/uninsured are the reason hospitals have to charge $5 for a tylenol to those that can pay. (If you have insurance this doesn't mean they pay that, most have a set amount per day regardless of what is charged)
112863
There was an article in the New England Journal of Medicine this week (won't expect that you've read it...) about the outsourcing of Radiology to India, meaning a small number of hospitals are electronically sending off CT scans, x-rays etc. to be read by radiologists living in India (to be fair they are assumed to have had residency training in the U.S. although the article states they have experimented briefly with Indian trained radiologists). The article says this may herald the beginning of outsourcing medicine. There are already "virtual" ICU's...doctors sitting in remote area's monitoring ICU patients by real time video. \n\nPersonally on a whole, I think this is not a great idea. There are people in this country who are unemployed and might want one of those call-center jobs that Dell has exported to Bangalore. And I'd rather be able to walk down to radiology to speak with a radiologist about specific details of a CT, sometimes this little extra effort has made a great deal of difference. Just thoughts.
847879
You might, but you will need to contact Medicare or the company you have your plan with.