Posted on 04/25/2013 6:29:33 PM PDT by Signalman
In late 2010, Dr. Grady Snyder saw the writing on the wall. He was burned out, his revenue was shrinking and it was getting too expensive to run his rural practice in Pueblo, Colo.
It was time to quit. On August 19, 2011, Snyder sold his practice to a local hospital 30 miles away.
"I gave up on health care in America," he said. Later that year, he moved to Australia and took up rural medicine there.
The choice was heart-wrenching for Snyder. He didn't want to feel like he was abandoning his nearly 5,000 patients, and he'd been the only family physician in the area for 16 years.
"I wasn't just a doctor there, I was part of this community," he said. "I coached youth basketball here. My kids went to school here."
Snyder's decision to leave was years in the making.
A third of Snyder's rural patients were on Medicare. When Medicare reimbursements to physicians started shrinking in the late 1990s, his revenues fell. At the same time, the cost of running his practice was rising. Snyder tried to control expenses as much as he could.
Then in 2009, a law was passed requiring doctors and hospitals to move to electronic health record systems by 2015. If they didn't, their Medicare payments would be cut further.
That was the final straw. "I couldn't afford that expense. I didn't have $100,000 lying around," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
The amount of regulations the doctors has to meet is truly mind boggling.
Thanks for posting, we can sure use him; your loss is our gain.
In America, Snyder hardly ever took time off. In Australia, Snyder is contracted to work only 36 weeks a year, plus he gets four weeks’ paid vacation time. That’s given him time to travel — he and his wife have visited Sydney, Malaysia and elsewhere in the region.
Even with a much lighter schedule, Snyder is making the equivalent of U.S.$250,000 a year — $100,000 more than he made practicing in Colorado year round.
Moving overseas has made being a doctor fun again, he said.
What part of “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” does this doctor not understand?
It is, but if we just give up and fail to fight, it will not get better.
My decision to leave has also been years in the making, but soon, I am out of here.
Does he not know that health care is a right? He needs to perform services no matter what the govmint pays him.
Irrelevant. He was basically underwater here. He is not a slave. None of us our. Damn to hell all those who think they r slavemasters.
LOL. did you read the comments at cnn? 90% could be summed up with what you wrote. Most of the comments sounded like rabid communists. Many blamed the problems on the belief doctors are greedy, or stated that single payer will solve the problem.
Our youth have truly been brainwashed into believing government is the "angel" in all this mess.
Many of the comments are truly scary.
“What part of “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” does this doctor not understand?”
Snort! Good one...
Doctors will continue early retirement in ever-growing numbers...count on it. Be ready to speak ebonics to your new nobama-doctor.
Not just doctors.
Hospitals are gobbling up practices like Halloween candy. It may be the only recourse.
Chilling statement!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.