In practice, most Australian Medicare providers will have policies requiring the card be presented to prevent fraud.

They are also required to pay an excess charge of 15% for services rendered by non-participating Medicare providers.

The accountability office said it found tax problems among 5 percent of the Medicare providers it examined.

To help close the gap, the Republicans propose to subject Medicare providers to competition by helping retirees pay to join health maintenance organizations.

Only give your Medicare number to your physician or other approved Medicare providers.

There is no way of knowing in advance how many doctors would be on the list of preferred Medicare providers.

The government said it wanted to avoid setting precedents that could be invoked by Medicare providers in other cases.

Then, when the patient has paid, the doctor submits the information to the Medicare provider, and the patient is reimbursed.

Finally, Congress will face continued pressures from farmers and Medicare providers who feel that they bore the brunt of past budget cuts.

And it guarantees that Medicare providers will not see deep cuts that jeopardizes seniors' access to the doctor they trust.