In Response to a Quora Question, "Why do so many physicians regret going into medicine?", I wrote...

I am a general practitioner, semi retired without pension. Let me give you an anecdote. I was enrolled in a Comprehensive-risk based managed care (Medicaid recipient plan in 1997 and 1998. What this means is that I was paid a certain amount (~ $12) a month for every patient who was enrolled in this plan, I had about 750 patients. No extra payments for usual clinic stuff, like EKGs, blood drawing, pulmonary function tests, etc. Fortunately they assigned me mostly healthy young and middle aged adults. Because of this, I did not need to order many blood tests, x-rays, CT Scans, MRIs and referrals. One day, after a year, I received an envelope with a check of $17,000.00. Shocked, i called the company (Genesis Health Care), asking why I had received this enormous check. They told me because i ordered few tests, referrals, etc. The next year, I was waiting for my check. After a few months, I called the company and was told, they dropped this bonus plan for the doctors.

I have other stories too. I also accepted Medicaid payments for non-comprehensive-risk managed patients in New York (30 something years ago) because I worked in an area of poor people. You will not imagine what I was paid to see these particularly unhealthy patients: $7.5 dollars per visit. $15.00 for an EKG and reading it; $15.00 to see the patient in the ER as their attending if minor admission and $30.00 or less? (I don’t remember) if a critical ICU admission, spending up to 3 hours with the patient; $15.00 dollars for an ICU visit ; $30.00 dollars for a chest tube placement, thoracentesis, paracentesis, central line placement…etc (often because the specialist didn’t want to come in because the patient was a Medicaid patient). I was not great with intubating patients so I made sure the pulmonologist or anesthesiologist came in to place an endotracheal tube.