Sliver of Medicare Doctors Get Big Share of Payouts
By REED ABELSON and SARAH COHEN

A tiny fraction of the 880,000 doctors and other health care providers who take Medicare accounted for nearly a quarter of the roughly $77 billion paid out to them under the federal program, receiving millions of dollars each in some cases in a single year, according to the most detailed data ever released in Medicare’s nearly 50-year history.

In 2012, 100 doctors received a total of $610 million, ranging from a Florida ophthalmologist who was paid $21 million by Medicare to dozens of doctors, eye and cancer specialists chief among them, who received more than $4 million each that year. While more money by far is spent for routine office visits than any other single expenditure, one of the most heavily reimbursed procedures — costing a total of $1 billion for 143,000 patients — is for a single treatment for an eye disorder common in the elderly.

The Medicare data — all for 2012 and the subject of an intense legal battle — provides an unprecedented look at the practice of medicine across the country, shedding fresh light on the treatment decisions physicians and other practitioners make every day. It will also provide consumers with an ability to compare doctors and treatments in a way they have never had until now.

美眼科醫師靠Medicare 變千萬富翁

美國政府9日首度公布2012年聯邦醫療保險制度 (Medicare)的支付數據，數千位醫生成為百萬富翁，其中少數人一年收進1000萬美元以上酬勞。這份數據詳細闡述770億美元的聯邦醫療保險基金如何花掉，同時顯示出最高收入者的所得，是他們所在行業平均水平的100倍。

美國政府醫療保險與醫療補助服務中心 (CMS)公布2012 年Medicare支付醫療服務提供者的名單與酬勞數據。包括醫師、治療師、醫學實驗室等機構在內，共有88萬個醫療提供者。他們拿到聯邦醫療保險基金支付的770億美元 (新台幣約2.31兆元)。

數據顯示，佛羅里達州棕櫚灘一位眼科醫師2012年收到2100萬美元；第二名是佛州歐卡拉的心臟病科醫師，收1800萬美元。全美將近4000名醫師收百萬美元。

這是美國聯邦政府史上首度公開如此鉅細靡遺的資訊，包括個別醫師的療程細節，醫療人員向政府開的費用明細與拿到的金額也一覽無遺。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/business/sliver-of-medicare-doctors-get-big-share-of-payouts.html

2014-04-10．聯合晚報．A10．都會生活．編譯蔡致仁