Well, I think that Social Security would have a hard time arguing that you're not getting proper treatment for a condition if Medicare has been approving payment to a particular provider for treatment of that condition. As long as Medicare recognizes that your PCP is treating you for your condition in a way that they will pay for, I wouldn't worry too much about it when it comes time to provide your records for a CDR.


(Medicare is a government program, and it has limited resources, and has to make sure that taxpayer money isn't being spent on hooey.

So, as long as a treatment has been proven effective for a condition, Medicare will likely cover it. If it hasn't then, it won't.

Some examples of things that Medicare does not recognize would be if you're seeing an acupuncturist or taking homeopathic remedies, then Medicare will deny the claims and Social Security will probably reject that as an appropriate treatment. Chiropractic is covered in limited circumstances by Medicare for things like lower back pain, but Medicare does not recognize the claim that diseases of the body are caused by "vertebral subluxations", so they'll likely deny your claim if you say that you're disabled or getting treatment for that reason.

As to the debate about whether a MD or a DO is better, you can go to a MD or a DO as your PCP, as they both have valid medical degrees and licenses, but it's how they are treating you and what they are billing Medicare for that counts. Personally, I don't see an MD or a DO as being better than the other one, all else being equal, and I have seen both in the past.)

Make sure you are getting treatments that Medicare recognizes and pays for. Medicare is a part of Social Security and the two are tightly integrated. In fact, during a CDR, Social Security can access and consider your Medicare records to back up your claims for when you told Social Security you were getting treatment. Also, if you go more than 2 years without using your Medicare card at all, it will trigger a CDR no matter when your regularly scheduled one happened to be.