Does Medicare pay 100% for lab and diagnostics?

[grasswire]

If they are medically warranted, does Medicare pay for services such as blood work, EKG, Holter monitor, CT scans, biopsies, etc?

[Frustratedlady]

1. I've never had any problems with them paying.

I should revise that to say that Medicare and the supplemental insurance covers it. Of course, they have their own scale, which reduces the price of everything pretty substantially, but most bills I've received have been covered 100%.

[Zoigal]

2. Doesn't Medicare pay 80% after the

initial yearly deductible? Supplemental insurance (if one has it) picks up the additional
twenty percent. However, some procedures aren't covered. p

[Frustratedlady]

3. Yes, I was not clear. My supplemental picks up the balance...

so I always think how nice it is that 100% has been paid. I've reworded that.

I have never had any procedure that they rejected. What don't they cover?

[Mojorabbit]

4. I just paid

my part of a MRI. Two hundred smackers. Medicare picked up the rest. So no, they don't if you don't have a supplemental policy at least for cat scans and mris

[grasswire]

5. thanks everyone

I'm helping a neighbor try to sort this mumbo-jumbo out. Nowhere can I find anything about what Medicare pays for tests.

And gee. Nowhere in the info on medigap plans do they tell you that there is a variable waiting period after enrollment before they pay.

I pity anyone who has to try to go this alone!

[fed-up]

8. look for a local HICAP-Health Insurance Counseling Advocacy Program-free help from volunteers

they were very helpful explaining medicare/kaiser to me when I took care of my mother

I think they are nationwide

[grasswire]

6. Do you have a supplemental?

And another question, if I may be so bothersome.

Do you pay everything personally until you reach the deductible, and then they start paying from then on?

[cornermouse]

7. Two places to go, Grasswire.

You may have to wade through a lot of legalese and hemming and hawing, though.

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/home/medicare.asp

http://www.medicare.gov/

The second url appears to be a George Bush vanity machine more than an actual information generator. If its any comfort, I think God's reserving a special place for him after all the hell he has put people through.