Do you have private health insurance...??

[pomtzu]

The doctors will charge medicare whatever their rate is...but usually the negotiated (PPO or HMO) rate is lower than what the uninsured or government insured pay.

Yet my rate could be, and is, higher than another's, simply because Medicare has authorized x$ to be charged, and he is charging the max allowed by law. It isn't a set rate for a basic office visit for every patient, as it used to be "back in the good old days".