 |
|
11-03-2009, 12:08 PM
|
#1
|
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 145
|
God forbid we have doctors wanting to enter practice because they want to heal people. The AMA has assured a shortage of doctors educated in the US by limiting educational resources. We import an awful lot of (great) doctors from countries whose medical lobby is not quite so strong - look up one of the original aims of the AMA: to enhanace doctors' salaries.
The French model - which costs about 2/3 the US' - employs more doctors and fewer nurses with average salaries dramatically lower than those in the US. In fact, a French GP is said to average $55k per year. Admittedly they don't have to deal with the malpractice insurance costs or the legacy debt of education. While I believe everyone who works hard, betters themselves, and makes sacrifices should enjoy a comfortable life, it should not come at the crippling expense of others.
As far as low Medicare reimbursement rates, my last doctor had a lot of senior patients, and would have them stacked up like cordwood in the waiting room and occupying five exam rooms at the same time. He was billing for each of them, spending an average of 3 or 4 minutes per patient.
|
|
|
|
11-03-2009, 01:56 PM
|
#2
|
|
Dryer sheet aficionado
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 47
|
 Quote:
Originally Posted by randyman65
God forbid we have doctors wanting to enter practice because they want to heal people. The AMA has assured a shortage of doctors educated in the US by limiting educational resources. We import an awful lot of (great) doctors from countries whose medical lobby is not quite so strong - look up one of the original aims of the AMA: to enhanace doctors' salaries.
The French model - which costs about 2/3 the US' - employs more doctors and fewer nurses with average salaries dramatically lower than those in the US. In fact, a French GP is said to average $55k per year. Admittedly they don't have to deal with the malpractice insurance costs or the legacy debt of education. While I believe everyone who works hard, betters themselves, and makes sacrifices should enjoy a comfortable life, it should not come at the crippling expense of others.
As far as low Medicare reimbursement rates, my last doctor had a lot of senior patients, and would have them stacked up like cordwood in the waiting room and occupying five exam rooms at the same time. He was billing for each of them, spending an average of 3 or 4 minutes per patient.
|
Sounds great. Let's all have doctors working on secretary salaries. Sounds like we can all expect great service. Al least it's nothing important...just your health. Who do those doctors think they are anyway? Just because they went through many difficult years of schooling followed by several years of internship. Just because they have skills and abiliites that are in demand and exceed the skills required of most typical jobs. So what. They should accept their pay of less than a plumber or roofer and be happy about it. After all, we all went into our respective professions for nobler causes than to expect great pay for great work. Salary is so overrated.
America needs to more like France. That should be our goal. Aim high.
__________________
“Doubly happy, however, is the man whom lofty mountain tops are within reach, for the lights that shine there illumine all that lies below” John Muir
|
|
|
|
|
11-03-2009, 02:03 PM
|
#3
|
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 145
|
Quote:
|
Sounds great. Let's all have doctors working on secretary salaries. Sounds like we can all expect great service. Al least it's nothing important...just your health. Who do those doctors think they are anyway? Just because they went through many difficult years of schooling followed by several years of internship. Just because they have skills and abiliites that are in demand and exceed the skills required of most typical jobs. So what. They should accept their pay of less than a plumber or roofer and be happy about it. After all, we all went into our respective professions for nobler causes than to expect great pay for great work. Salary is so overrated.
|
Because everyone knows we all have the ability to comparison shop when we're in the ER. And if it means people live longer, live healthier, commit less resources to healthcare, and don't live in fear of medical bankruptcy, maybe we should be like France. Or Canada, Japan, or Switzerland perhaps. No doctor is going to cause me to shed a tear for their financial hardship. There are plenty of people to have committed their lives to other causes in the service of others for far less compensation. I don't think anyone thinks that those who commit effort and ability and make sacrifices should not be compensated, but on whose back? And since when has money been the sole measure of a person's worth?
The simple fact is that in the areas of healthcare and education the rate of increase has double or tripled
|
|
|
|
|
11-03-2009, 02:08 PM
|
#4
|
|
Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Texas Hill Country
Posts: 7,254
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by randyman65
The simple fact is that in the areas of healthcare and education the rate of increase has double or tripled
|
And what do health care and education have in common? The true costs of both are mostly hidden from the consumer of the services, so we have a tendency to overconsume them because to us, they feel "cheaper" than it really is. This can lead to a situation where demand constantly exceeds supply and the result is rapid inflation.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
|
|
|
|
|
11-03-2009, 02:10 PM
|
#5
|
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 145
|
Yeah, I guess my father in law overconsumed his share of cancer treatments. Selfish bastard.
|
|
|
|
|
11-03-2009, 02:13 PM
|
#6
|
|
Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Texas Hill Country
Posts: 7,254
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by randyman65
Yeah, I guess my father in law overconsumed his share of cancer treatments. Selfish bastard.
|
Wow, that was a prompt and impressive non sequitur.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
|
|
|
|
|
11-03-2009, 02:16 PM
|
#7
|
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Denver, Colorado
Posts: 1,579
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by ziggy29
Wow, that was a prompt and impressive non sequitur.
|
Yeah. What on Earth does that have to do with this Forum becoming extinct?
__________________
"It's tough to make predictions, especially when it involves the future." ~Attributed to many
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." ~(perhaps) Yogi Berra
"Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge."~ Lau tzu
|
|
|
|
|
11-03-2009, 02:22 PM
|
#8
|
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 553
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonBoyd
Yeah. What on Earth does that have to do with this Forum becoming extinct?
|
The cost and consumption of health care is one of the things that stops people from ERing, so it seems to be very relevant to the future of ER, and by extension, this forum
|
|
|
|
|
11-03-2009, 02:30 PM
|
#9
|
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Independence
Posts: 2,350
|
i like turtles.
|
|
|
|
|
11-03-2009, 03:00 PM
|
#10
|
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,119
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by nun
But big factors are also the good benefits like pensions and health care we have from our emplyers that younger workers no longer get.... With the death of these benefits will anyone be able to FIRE in the future?
|
Most people no longer enjoy pensions. I certainly don't ... but it will not preclude me from FIREing.
I don't see any reason to expect that healthcare will change substantially in Canada. Costs keep going up as new treatments and procedures are developed, but at worst a lack of resources may cause the quality of care to plateau.
__________________
"There is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labour" - Albert Camus
"Why should I let the toad work squat on my life? Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork and drive the brute off?" - Philip Larkin
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
|
| Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
|
| Display Modes |
 Hybrid Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
