Let the people decide!!

reply to post by BlueTriangle


Not at all. I dont believe they should be at poverty level.
Sorry if it comes across that way.
but i DO believe that 300,000 is steep.

Doctors, to me, seem to take advantage of the situation and charge whatever the hell they want because the person needs the care.

especially when you're talking about saving a man's life.
1k per operation....

i dont know what you do for a living, but lets pretend you sell cars (no offense intended...im just using this for illustration purposes)

A good car is going to run you 30k or more, but we'll use 30k,b ecause i feel its a reasonable cost for an average car

A car salesman is going to sell LESS cars in a month than a heart surgeon does surgeries. But the car salesman isnt going to make 1k per car.


The fact is - the doctor makes 300k a year regardless of the amount of heart surgeries they perform. And the amount they perform is going to differ quite drstically, IMO, from doctor to doctor

so i say you look at the over all income of the doctor

Lets say you ARE correct in 12k a month take home. Just for arguments sake.

12k
-2k - student loan
-2500 (i think its the price you quoted for mortage)
-1000 (car payments/insurance/maintenance)
_______________
$6500 left over for groceries, gas, etc etc

BTW, 2500 a month is going to buy you a very nice home.








Side note: I think i mentioned this earlier in my post, too.

Hospitals over charge

Here's common ways they do it

Here's a few ways to avoid it from happening to you


So....30k a year for a heart surgery?
i'd love to see the itemized bill

probably $739.16 for the tissue used to clean his stitches afterwards

Its appauling.

Originally posted by Andrew E. Wiggin
A car salesman is going to sell LESS cars in a month than a heart surgeon does surgeries. But the car salesman isnt going to make 1k per car.

From a quick web search, car salesman generally make 2%-5% on a car sale. On a $30k car that's up to $1500. The difference here is that a car salesman can start fresh out of high school at 18. A doctor doesn't start making that money until 14 years later.

Originally posted by Andrew E. Wiggin
BTW, 2500 a month is going to buy you a very nice home.

That completely depends on where the doctor lives. In my case, my wife and I bought a 3 bedroom home with almost 2 acres for $105k three years ago. If we went to parts of California or pretty much anywhere in new england near a major city we couldn't touch a similar house for under a million. The mortgage I quoted corresponded to about a $450,000 house under current interest rates.

As I said earlier, I agree 100% that medical costs are out of control...but I think you're pinning the tail on the wrong donkey when you blame the doctor.

reply to post by Andrew E. Wiggin

The plan I have is a type of health fund plan, where you have $1,000 to start and any cost comes from that until it is gone, then you start to pay the 20/80 point of service type plan. I think I had some rollover from a previous year so I didn't have to pay anything for the operation.

It is paid through my employer and they don't tell us what it costs, so I don't know.

reply to post by Hal9000


So you dont have deductions on your paycheck for company health insurance?


My plan:

1000 deductible (recycles every year)
80/20 on covered medical procedures
its an extra 370 dollars a month to add cancer insurance
If you include company coverage, and what i pay out of pocket every month to have said health insurance it comes out to 720 dollars a month. Thats for myself and my wife

My grandmother has non-employer backed health insurance and pays just over 500 a month as well.

seems like someone is getting screwed


but i will admit
the doctors are not entirely to blame - i was over zealous in my claim

* Owners of hopsitals
* Health Insurance companies
* Doctors themselves

they all feed off one another, and point the finger to one antoher when blame comes into question for high prices.

But i feel as though the PROBLEM with "high health insurance costs" is because the costs of the proceudres themselves, is WAY too high.





[edit on 20-6-2008 by Andrew E. Wiggin]

[edit on 20-6-2008 by Andrew E. Wiggin]

Originally posted by Andrew E. Wiggin
So you dont have deductions on your paycheck for company health insurance?

Yes but that is the part I pay. The rest is payed by my employer, which I don't know how much that is. I may ask to see if I can get that info.

Originally posted by Andrew E. Wiggin
But i feel as though the PROBLEM with "high health insurance costs" is because the costs of the proceudres themselves, is WAY too high.

I agree, but part of the reason is also due to the uninsured. When they can't pay for treatment, which the hospitals can't refuse by law, that cost is added to all services, which means we pay more though insurance premiums.

Your right. I do have excellent insurance and I don't want to loose it. The cost of health care is getting so high, I feel that soon employers will no longer offer it as a benefit, and we will all have to pay for it.

edit: added first question.

[edit on 6/20/2008 by Hal9000]

Why the hell is a college grad paying off a student loan making 12k a year?

And a surgeon won't be making 300k a year out of med school. He'll be making something more akin to 30-40k a year. As a 30-year-old man.

Your whole argument is silly, I'm starting to think that you're just a troll.

reply to post by Johnmike


Oh, ok, i guess the articles i posted to medical information to support my argument are just garbage


go look again

You posted three great articles about hospitals overcharging for things like tissues.

Thanks?

perhaps you missed This post ?

It was on the last page.