A tiny fraction of the 880,000 US doctors and other health care providers who take [s]Medicare[/s] accounted for nearly a quarter of the roughly $77bn paid out to them under the US government programme. [s]The New York Times[/s] reports that this is according to the most detailed data ever released in Medicare’s nearly 50-year history. In 2012, 100 doctors received a total of $610m, ranging from a Florida ophthalmologist who was paid $21m to dozens of doctors – eye and cancer spec ialists chief among them – who received over $4m each.
[link url=http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/business/sliver-of-medicare-doctors-get-big-share-of-payouts.html?emc=edit_th_20140409&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=42505380&_r=0]Full report in The New York Times[/link]
[link url=http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Medicare-Provider-Charge-Data/Physician-and-Other-Supplier.html]Medicare data[/link]