Impeding changes to our Health Care system

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by jinx

Just by adding that many more consumers and limiting profit in other areas. If doctors need to see even more patients than they do now every day to break even, they'll be spending less actual time, less actual effort providing care. But if people are handed a prescription, they'll feel like something was accomplished.

I have a hard time with this, because on the one hand some doctors are saying they can barely break even with all these Medicare patients, and on the other hand it's widely accepted that doctors in general, and specialists even moreso, make more money in this country than in any other. The few doctors I know personally do make very good money, and work very convenient office hours as well.

I don't think adding everyone to an insurance program will result in more consumers--these people already exist, and they will still go to the doctor when they get sick, just like they do now. They'll just be paying into the system instead of holding out and hoping for the best. Like my father, for example: he has never had health insurance, and it's worked out okay for him so far, but now that he's getting older medical problems are becoming more and more likely with each passing year. He has a nest egg that he's gambling will be enough to cover whatever crops up between now and when Medicare kicks in for him. But basic research shows he doesn't even have 1/2 the money he would need to cover a major hospitalization for a heart problem (which he already has hints of,) or treatment for colon cancer (which runs in the family.) If it happens, I don't care what his libertarian ideals are, when push comes to shove he will not smile and say, "Oh well, I can't afford it, let me die." And I guarantee you the doctors wouldn't allow it even if he did. He will get treatment, and other people will pay for it. He is just one of many people out there who I believe should be required to carry health insurance, because we all have to work within the same system, whatever it is, or it will fail. We could go with a totally libertarian system just as easily, but as a society we'd have to overcome our fear of just letting people die, and that's never going to happen.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I have a hard time with this, because on the one hand some doctors are saying they can barely break even with all these Medicare patients, and on the other hand it's widely accepted that doctors in general, and specialists even moreso, make more money in this country than in any other. The few doctors I know personally do make very good money, and work very convenient office hours as well.

Maybe we just know different people but this is hardly my experience. In one private practice clinic where I work 4 doctors make up the practice, any 2 or 3 of them are there every day 5 days a week, plus a Nurse Practitioner and some times a PA. Everyone of them sees 40 to 65 patients every day. And they are specialists. Few specialists have the kind of time they can just sit around and have lazy days on their boats. They all work 7 days a week seeing patients in the hospital on a rotational basis. They take 24 hour call Mon thru Thurs and 72 hour call on a rotational basis. Malpractice is well over $100,000 a year. They have a staff of over 30 in this one office, from RN's to clerks and an office manager. The office is open from 830 am to when ever they are done, usually around 5 pm. How long do you think it takes to get an education to start and run a practice like this? How about the personal and financial costs associated with getting the education? Pick a specialty and I will give you an idea of the time it takes to get that specialty. The idea that most docs live the Life of Reilly is a misnomer in my experience. The hours are long and most people could never keep up.

[jinx]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I have a hard time with this, because on the one hand some doctors are saying they can barely break even with all these Medicare patients, and on the other hand it's widely accepted that doctors in general, and specialists even moreso, make more money in this country than in any other. The few doctors I know personally do make very good money, and work very convenient office hours as well.

If doctors that are doing well under the current system can be influenced by free pens, imagine what will happen if the reforms cut into their bottom line at all.

I don't think adding everyone to an insurance program will result in more consumers--these people already exist, and they will still go to the doctor when they get sick, just like they do now. They'll just be paying into the system instead of holding out and hoping for the best.

Will they? Or will they be added to the insurance system without paying in because they don't have enough money? Do you think most uninsured people can actually afford insurance and just choose not to buy it?