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benrl
I can picture this future conversation...
Your child: " dad what made you and mom had kids?"
JackSparrow 17 "Thank Obama..."
JackSparrow17
benrl
I can picture this future conversation...
Your child: " dad what made you and mom had kids?"
JackSparrow 17 "Thank Obama..."
Oh I'm a better storyteller than that! Ahem...
"A long time ago in the mythical land of the Free States, there was a King named Barry Obama. He loved his citizens so much that he decried affordable healthcare for all! Incidentally, due to the high cost on the poor citizens, medicine was not made readily available to all. King Barry was so confused as to why it didn't work! Many mommies and daddies couldn't afford medicine that kept mommies from having babies before they were either tuckered out from partying, or financially ready. Coincidentally, son, that's where you come in..."
Baddogma
If doc's are fleeing to their golf courses then I say ...good! The sort of docs who don't much care for money and are in it to help people are rather rare these days, and the ones that spread unnecessary meds are common.
A few retiring and the racket getting less a rep as a money maker are only good things, imo.
Now if we only had a single payer "option."
Khaleesi
Baddogma
If doc's are fleeing to their golf courses then I say ...good! The sort of docs who don't much care for money and are in it to help people are rather rare these days, and the ones that spread unnecessary meds are common.
A few retiring and the racket getting less a rep as a money maker are only good things, imo.
Now if we only had a single payer "option."
I am not here to defend doctors but I would like to point out something I think few people take in to account when they start dissing the doctors that 'care more about money' etc. I worked for a major Medical Center for 15 years. I worked closely with attending physicians, residents (doctors that are training in a specific field of medicine) and interns (doctors that haven't chosen a field yet). I was shocked to find that even senior residents made less per year than I did and registered nurses made more than me. Taking all that into account let's consider the debt that most doctors start with after getting out of Med School. I looked at the average cost of 4 years of college or University and 4 years of Med School. After 8 years of education, the average doctor has $200,000 debt and has yet to earn a paycheck. So at the age of roughly 26 they are that far in the hole. The average salary of a resident is $45, 000 a year. They work as many as 100 hours a week, sometimes more. Do the math. That is approximately 5200 hours a year. That averages out to less than $10 an hour. Depending on the field they have chosen, their residency last from 3-7 years. They do not charge by the patient. They get whatever salary the Medical Center or hospital has agreed to pay them. This salary will not drastically increase during their residency. Their debt comes due the moment they graduate from Medical School and then they also need to factor in living expenses. They are not buying houses, expensive cars etc. They are struggling.
Now let's move on to life after residency. What are their expenses? Right off the top of my head, I can think of one MAJOR expense. Medical Malpractice Insurance. What does that cost? That depends on several factors. What field of medicine they are in and in what state they practice. Just by doing a little google research I found that Pennsylvania falls in the middle. General surgeons pay between $28,000 to $50,000 a year. What are they earning? I googled that and came up with $200,000/year. Do you think they have even paid off their debt from school yet? Doubtful. So now they are still paying off their school loans. They have to pay Medical Malpractice insurance. At the age of 29-33 years old they are just getting started. We are talking averages here. An OB/GYN pays much more for malpractice.
All in all, a doctor does not begin to break even for quite some time. Yes, eventually they begin to have an easier life monetarily. They still work long hours. A 40 hour work week would be a vacation for them. Believe me, I've worked with attendings and they still have loooooong hours. How many of us would be willing to put in those hours, early in a career with so little pay? It is akin to someone starting a business. The hours are long and hard in the beginning and takes many years before they are earning a profit. They are still putting in long hours throughout their whole career. So these doctors 'care more about money'? Really?
The insurers tend to pay based on some national average and the NYC docs wind up getting screwed, thus many of them won't take insurance.
~Lucidity
‘I Plan To Retire’ = 'I have fleeced the system for all I could and now I'm going to go enjoy it while you suckers deal with the ramifications of what I and those like me have created'
At least he CAN retire. :eyeroll:
six67seven
Whether a mass-doctor exit was considered or not, it doesn't matter and the Obama admin would've done the exact same thing anyway, pass Obamacare. Do people actually think this admin cares about the American people? If so, I'd love to see some examples as to why they believe that. Go ahead and create a Pros/Cons list of what this administration has done/passed/created/extended... I guarantee you the "Con" side will heavily out-weigh the "Pro" side.
I wonder if this admin took more advice from the insurance companies or the doctors... yes, I wonder...
Come on!! This is a huge waste of American time, money and LIVES!! There is no debating this. You don't need to be prophetic to see what is about to happen to our economy, our livelihood, our nation.
Sickening
HomerinNC
reply to post by reaganero
Well since YOU think Doctors are in it JUST for the money, why dont YOU go back to school for 8+ years to be a doctor and charge as little as possible, hell, since I assume youre NOT in it for the money, why not do it FOR FREE????
Lets see how long that lasts with 200,000 plus in student loans, plus insurance, plus wages for your nurses and technicians, the rent or mortgage of your office
Yeah, didnt think so...