A Closer Look At Medicare Payments To Ophthalmologists

06:28

April 10, 2014

Ophthalmologists are defending themselves after a massive release of data on Medicare reimbursements showed that eye doctors were among those getting the biggest payouts.

Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen is at the top, bringing in $20.8 million from Medicare in 2012. Melgeb has been investigated by the FBI in the past. He's also drawn scrutiny because of his political donations to Democrats.

But ophthalmologists are among the more highly paid. Based on the data, The New York Times reported that ophthalmology was the specialty that billed the highest total.

Also, according to the Washington Post, ophthalmologists use an expensive drug, Lucentis, and that most of the money goes to pharmaceutical companies.

Harvard public policy professor Amitabh Chandra joins Here & Now's Robin Young to discuss eye doctors' high Medicare payouts.

Guest

Amitabh Chandra, professor of public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He tweets @amitabhchandra2.

robin:

This segment aired on April 10, 2014.