On July 30, 1965, the Social Security amendments of 1965 were signed into law. However, the benefits of this legislation were not to be initiated until July 1, 1966. This bill is popularly known as Medicare and its companion as Medicaid. The advent of Medicare removed any economic barriers that existed in regard to the Physicians' prescribing habits for hospitalized patients 65 years old or older. This is true in the institutional setting, since in this case, the cost of all drugs is paid for by the government. Since the advent of Medicare, Medicaid, and other third-party payments, physicians have been increasingly criticized as being materialistic individuals more concerned with income than services to the patient.1They have been accused of overprescribing or irrational prescribing or both, and accusations sometimes cite them in regard to prescribing substandard medications for public assistance patients because they are welfare patients. If physicians