Because of the constant barrage of class warfare rhetoric and class envy, privately many people don’t mind seeing doctors suffer financially. But all doctors in private practice are small businessmen and in many respects they are entrepreneurs.
Imagine if the government cut your small business’ gross income 27% overnight, as they are planning on cutting physician reimbursements 27%.
If a solo medical practice grosses $200,000 and the physician takes home 40% of it, he’s earning $80,000 per year (typical for many small town non-specialist physicians), while his business overhead is $120,000.
If his practice is tied to Medicare reimbursements and reimbursement is cut 27%, his gross drops to $146,000.
But his practice expenses still stay the same, $120,000.
In other words, a cut of 27% to his gross business income leaves his net income at $26,000, a 67% loss in personal income.
Does anyone realize what this cut in Medicare reimbursements will do to the practice of medicine in this country?
And. of course, they will be employees of the state.
yitbos
Yes, it will utterly destroy it. Wipe it out. I have been saying that for years. It will do the same thing to the economy too. Essentially it will rip the fabric of society apart at every seam.
If you're smart, you skip med school (and college, too — grossly overpriced due to government loans), and you go into fast food. Internship: you own one restaurant on a shoestring. Life is dicey. You owe a lot, and, if you don't manage costs, you bomb. Two restaurants, you're OK. Three, you're comfortable. Four+, you're well on your way to the hated one percent.
I know these are human beings who have put a lot of time and effort into their careers and are small businessmen who are the backbone of this economy, but does it really make sense to mourn the tribulations of an industry that has come to rely so heavily on massive government programs (Medicare and Medicaid) that never should have existed in the first place?