[renodoc]

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No, it is not immoral for you to accept and treat Medicare patients. But it is immoral to accept payment for those services in the form of stolen goods, i.e. taxes.

Believe me, I know how pervasive the system is. And I know that it can often seem in the self-interest of people such as yourself and our friend the neuroscientist, and for that matter myself, to "work the system" with an "I'ma git mine" attitude. I just eventually came to the conclusion that the benefits you supposedly receive do not come close to what you have to give up (whether it is easily apparent or not).

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Well, I don't understand you here. I treat medicare patients mostly because I can't successfully "opt out" without causing undue harm to 1) the patients 2) my staff 3) myself. I am not allowed to privately contract with a medicare patient unless I want to forego taking any medicare money for two years.

Obviously, I do accept taxes (stolen goods) when I provide services.

The benefits I receive don't come close to what I am giving up, especially the thought of jackbooted thugs coming to my office to audit charts. But the unfortunate reality is that even my most wealthy patients who own multimillion dollar second homes at Lake Tahoe, still are on the government dole when it comes to their healthcare.

I have suggested before that Medicare and Social Security need the same 40 years to phase out as the Israelites needed to learn to live as freemen rather than slaves when they wandered in the desert awaiting the promised land.