Which Medical Specialties Cost Medicare the Most?
On Wednesday, Medicare released data detailing how much it paid physicians for procedures for the first time since a court injunction sealed those records in 1979. The insurance program for the elderly and disabled is the biggest U.S. purchaser of health care, spending $77 billion in 2012.
Published April 9, 2014
2012 Medicare Payments to Individual Providers, by Specialty
| Specialty | Number of Providers |
Average Medicare Payment | Total Medicare Payment ($millions) |
|---|
Sources: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
GRAPHIC: CHLOE WHITEAKER / BLOOMBERG VISUAL DATA, DATA COMPILED BY PHIL KUNTZ