We only accept Medicaid as a secondary insurance, mainly because they pull every trick including flat out lying as reasons not to pay claims. ("Missing/incomplete/invalid primary diagnosis," my ass. Especially since the primary had no problem with the claim.) Between that and how little they pay when they pay at all, if we got too many Medicaid patients, we couldn't keep the doors open. I don't know how anyone manages it.
And no, you're right: since we don't take it as primary, we cannot see you if that's what you have. (Or, rather, as I understand it, we could see you, but we couldn't charge you, so we're not going to see you.) I hate that, but blame the state, not the practice... and, especially, when you're told we don't take Medicaid, don't call back later and lie that you have no insurance at all. We do take cash patients, but if we take you that way and then Medicaid finds out, we're in trouble.
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