Hello all I couldn't resist... shedding some light here. There is a myth out there that docs are all making big bucks and I thought I should set you straight. "I know this guy" who is a doctor, a general surgeon in a semi-rural area. He Bills out about 1 million dollars of work each year and has done so for about 21 years now. He worked hard as a youth when many of his friends were out drinking and carousing, he believed the "work hard and study and you'll get ahead" story that was taught at that time and was generally true. He finished four years of college and four years of med school both of which were fairly difficult. He then went through five more years of a truly grueling experience known as surgical residency where one actually Learns how to do surgery. Surgical residents hang up their lives on a coathanger at the beginning and when they return to try it on after five years it doesn't fit anymore. The experience changes them, most of these changes are for the better but some are less welcome. Rebirth by fire and such as that. My point is that they sacrifice a lot . They dont really start earning until their early thirties and most are heavily in debt when the get out to practice, often to the tune of $120,000 - $150,000 for their education. Then comes mortgage, kids schools, office expenses, malpractice insurance and all the rest. Here's the interesting part.... nobody in medicine gets paid what they bill, (Except perhaps the plastic surgeons since much is not covered by insurance) All of their Fees are determined by someone else, usually the insurance company with medicare and medicaid as a basic guideline. Medicare will pay this doc i know about 30- 35 cents on the dollar billed and medicaid last time he was brave enough to look paid him 16 cents on the dollar billed. Now remember the fee is already set so he can inflate his bill all he wants but still only gets the paltry predetermined sum. No.... not the $50,000 that the Kenyan thinks is paid for an amputation, try about $450-$650 for said operation. And that includes all of the pre care and aftercare that can go on for weeks. It's a bundled payment all included. Last time I checked you could hardly get a brake job on your S.U.V. or a new set of tires for said vehicle for that amount. SOoo Old Obee was either seriously uninformed (scary) or intentionally disingenuous (also scary) you choose. So .... Doc bills out a Million bucks, He Collects maybe $350,000 then through various Taxes....Income federal... income State.... Sales Tax... Property tax, etc etc etc all in alll fully 50% of what this guy earns disappears before he ever sees it, perhaps more. ( I heard Tax Freedom Day was August 23 this year!!!) Oh and dont forget Malpractice insurance! yes it is tax deductible as are office expenses but the bottom line is This guy can hardly stay in business. And that 's NOW wait till the Fed's take full controll.... After all that's what it's all about ...Control.... isn't it? The Dirty secret about the demonization of the insurance industry is that without them there would be no healthcare. (By the way ... a Very high risk, high stress business it is) You see... because Medicare and Medicaid drastically underpay hospitals, the hospital has to Overbill the well insured patient to stay in business. This is called Cost Shifting and is standard practice. (this is why a cotton ball costs $6 on your hospital bill.) Now there will be no affordible private insurance after a while since none can compete with the cost (free) ... (except to the taxpayer) public option. Yes Oprah and Brad and the Obamas and the congress and the other beautiful people will still be able to purchase expensive policies but they will no longer be "Cadillac" plans but "Ferrari" plans and most of us won't be able to afford it. Further paycuts in Docs fees are planned so how long before all the good ones quit or retire and "Joe the meat guy" is the one taking out your appendix, which, by the way, burst because you had to wait so long. I could go on but I won't.
Your Grandma had it right... "You get what you pay for"
Soviet workers had it right also..."They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work"
Will American Doctors be next?.... Something like "They pretend to pay us and we pretend to give a crap"!?
Altruism only goes so far..... will we never learn?
All the Best
JP