Posted on 09/12/2009 2:00:00 PM PDT by eartotheground
We should further restrict the number of doctors in the US in order to justify even more pay.
Seriously, is a CEO worth more than a Doctor?
Who saves more lives?
Now, the worthless politician who wrecks the nation's economy ... that guy's salary we can reduce!
My husband went to a fancy Ivy League school , which shall remain nameless- but Freepers hate this school :).
He took some business/finance courses just to lighten up his premed load.
He aced the classes without even trying.
His professor was shocked that he was not getting a business/finance degree. This university churns out Wall Street CEOs.
Instead, my husband went to medical school, and I subsequently did not get a house in the Hamptons, and a ski chalet in Aspen.
Now, some lawyers who think they own us want him to work for nothing, with them dictating the terms of employment.
The quality of physicians will decrease, we will have less of them, and smart people will go to another field which respects their talent.
I was going to re-post something I wrote about that a while ago but, I felt like creative writing today.
See how you like waiting in line to see a doctor because doctors decide to do something else that pays better.
If you were honest you'd compare lawyers income here and in the rest of the world. That income comes out of everyone. But no mention of that...
A national strike by doctors would be an eye opener for those who think they have to right to dictate other peoples lives.
We could take a big chunk out of the cost by excluding illegals from the system.
When you consider what a huge number of public sector employees make, including benefits and ridiculous retirement pay formulas many doctors net pay doesn’t come close.
They do their own retirement savings, pay huge insurance costs, hire extra employees just to deal with insurance companies and keeping track of claims and billing. They’re on call 24/7 and many dedicated do this willingly in spite of government types breathing down their necks and lawyers licking their chops 24/7 looking for an error.
There is no way I’d be a doctor in these times unless I partnered with a very sharp lawyer but even then the stress alone wouldn’t make it worth while.
And then it becomes more ridiculous when you see the income of Olbermann and O’Reilly types who offer the world nothing in return for their huge contracts.
Add people who play with different types of balls and pucks for a living and the comparison is outrageous.
Add people who live off of government grants, kickbacks, graft and corruption and look how rich most of congress is and it makes you wonder where our values really are.
Then add thousands of California (alone) public employee retirees who make over $100,000 for doing nothing and it scandalous.
Doctors are worth every dollar they make.
You are right in what you state.
Most doctors don’t make that much money any more.
I work w/ docs for a living. I had an ER Doc once tell me that his brother started apprenticing as a plumber after H.S. He went to medical school.
That was 25 yrs ago.
This doctor is now age 47. His brother has STILL out-earned him in lifetime earnings. Sure. He’ll catch up and pass his brother sometime during his 5th decade of life. That’s not the point:
Here was HIS observation - “Ultimately, I will out-earn my brother, but the effort to do so means that my brother will far surpass me in the ability and opportunity to live and enjoy his life.”
He specifically pointed out to me that this was a very depressing thought - not his brother’s success, but his lost opportunity to have done same.
But hey! That dirty rich doc was just some overpaid over-lucky exploiter of the system that must be put in his place and pay his dues so that the less “fortunate” can share in his success.
We bought our first condo after our friends were living in their second home which was an upgrade from their first home.
We lived at a lessor standard than our friends until my husband was 40, his practice was getting better, and student loans -$100,000- was paid off.
Now our standard of living is better than our friends.
Those same friends now seem to think he makes too much money.
While they were enjoying life ( and their jobs much less stressful), my husband was working 20 hour days during his internship and residency. When they owned a home, we rented. When they went on cruises, we camped.
My husband also thinks he missed a chunk of his life- his youth.
LOL, no harm no foul. Thanks for the comments. We’re on the same team here.
Emergency care providers and other specialists are often overpaid by nonprofit public entity hospitals that can tap local taxes. Commonly, the boards of such entities are dominated by members who are associated with or even have financial ties to the local medical establishment.
In at least two such nonprofit hospital systems that I know of, members of such boards improperly pressured administrators to pay doctors more than permitted by independent fee evaluations required by law. The public choice school of economics describes such above market compensation gained through manipulation and exploitation as 'rent seeking' behavior.
On the other hand, my own primary care doctor is widely known for his skill and hard work, deep dedication to his patients, and even lows fees for the uninsured. I am often envied when I mention who my primary care doctor is.
Second if you supported free enterprise you would be opposed to all forms of government payments and not be praising some silly court opinion. Since I fail to recall anywhere in the constitution that it grants judges the authority to spend tax payers money for anything.
The judges opinion anyway was only for emergency service, and sorry doc's have hid behind this to fatten their wallets on all sorts of procedures out side of emergency room treatment.
I mentioned the court decisions not because I agree--I do not. I answered them because they are pertinent to the question of giving care to illegals.
The Pres is assuring people illegals will not be covered; the Congress is saying they will word the healthcare bill to be sure illegals are NOT covered. I merely said the courts (multiple) have ruled that any govt. entity/program/etc. that UNIVERSALLY covers citizens will be open to illegals. Right now--that describes ER care--people cannot be turned away if they need treatment. That is WHAT IS.
If govt. offers complete coverage to all, then ALL must include illegals. No, none of it is constitutional, but if you haven't noticed, judges have been imposing their version of the laws for several years.
As for the AMA- approx. 17%of physicians belong to them, like only a small % of lawyers belong to the ABA. The media throws their names around to make points, as though they encompass ALL drs. and lawyers.
The med schools take in the # of students they can handle. A school geared to a 600 student freshman class cannot handle 1200. I do not know what input the AMA has. I am sure some of their members have influence, but they do not run all the schools.
vaudine
Who do you think educates the new physicians?
Not the AMA.
People like to give the AMA power, but they represent a small fraction of physicians,
They make their money by selling CPT, ICD books.
It is physicians like my husband- who spent a lot of his career in a teaching program.
When ObamaCare comes into play, all those physicians who taught will retire.
Who is going to teach the next generation?
I will add another thing-
The amount of physicians trained needs to be regulated by the MEDICAL COMMUNITY- not Obama.
If you have too little, then there are waiting lists for care.
If there are too many, they will compete with each other, and lower prices.
The problem is, they will have less experience doing a particular procedure.
When I want my hip replaced, I want my physician to have done hundreds, if not thousands of hip replacement procedures.
Too many physicians, the less procedure numbers per physician.
The laws of supply and demand is different on healthcare.
The first question a patient will ask is- how many times have you done this procedure?
There power is not in the number of doctors who belong, it is in the political pull of bought and paid for politicians. Where do you think the requirement for a certificate of need comes from. One of the most anti free market things I know of in the medical profession. Let the doc run the medical schools and let any and all students in. Have a run of good old free market.
The average family physician makes approximately $140,000 per year. Given what they sacrificed to get there, that ain’t so much.
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