Medical school has always cost a large amount of $ and most people graduate in debt. That is not new. People are choosing not to be doctors today because of the expense of being a doctor, not the expense of school. 3 members of my family are perfect examples; and one that is currently a doctor will be be retiring early because his malpractice insurance is through the roof, despite having never killed a patient. Passage of this new bill is just going to accelerate that. If I wanted someone else to control how much $ I can make and be forced to ride a bike to work, I would have been born in China.
Ok, I DO NOT like to think this but it seems to me that one would wonder that Obama is smart and does know this? He hasn't done anything to create the incentive for people to become doctors if anything he has done the opposite. Then you have to question the timing of all this, I don't know the last times the economy was this tough. I wonder if Obama is doing this on purpose to try and blame capitalism and the private sector like he always does. Then try and usher in socialism or at least make the country more to his liking similar to like he is doing now. He has said over and over he wants to transform the country.
The opposition is two-fold: the process and the establishment of another entitlement program we cannot pay for, giving the governement control over one-sixth of the economy. All polls point to most Americans opposing this health bill which puts the Republican Party squarely in their corner. Republicans are not opposed to health care reform and believe some of the provisions in the current bill are good. But the overall bill is bad. There is a good chance that come November the Republican Party will not longer be the minority party.
CNN reported Sunday that Republicans offered more than 200 amendments to the bill. That sounds like they were trying to work with it, not "kill it entirely". I've yet to see a single poll offered by a credible source that indicated that the "majority" of Americans wanted this bill to pass.
I do not doubt a word of what you are saying, but my experience, living in a number of towns throughout the south, is that the doctors ALWAYS live in the biggest houses and ALWAYS drive the fanciest cars. Them and the lawyers. ALWAYS...so IMHO, even with the travails faced by your relatives, there is still a LOT of money in doctoring. hwr
It's the same way with Employers having to take out insurance on their workers, and i am not talking about health insurance, i'm talking about workmans comp. We spend tons of money to an insurance company to cover our workers, who rarely get hurt. Im sure it's nothing compared to malpractice insurance, but its still a nice chunk.
Yes there is a "lot of money in doctoring", but do you have any concept of what doctors give up to get that? Most of them were the best students in high school and college. Then they have to pass the mcat, preferably acing it so you can actually get accepted to medical school. The schedule required to make it, much less excel in med school is simply maniacal. But you have to excel, and butter up the right doctors to get a good internship. Your internship(more yrs) is a schedule that makes med school look like a vacation - and it doesn't pay all that much. Hopefully you make it through that without burning out and you go on to your specialization, and maybe get accepted into a group of doctors that have contracts for certain hospitals or just outright own them. You can just as easily be blackballed from these groups. Being accepted into a "group" means you are low man on the totem poll. That means that you are on call more, work longer hrs, and work more and most holidays. Most doctors are well into their 30's before they are established, and retire their debt from school. And of course you are perpetually re-certifying, to maintain what you learned, and studying and certifying to learn the latest techniques. Take a moment and think about that level of commitment. There really is not another profession you can tackle that has requirements even close to that, in time or effort. All that and at the end of the day, doctors have to face the reality that they will lose patients today, and might even cause their death. What kind of mental toughness does it take to face that day in and day out? And there is a reason foreigners come from around the world to study medicine in America. Because pound for pound, we train the best doctors here. Doctors deserve every penny they get.
I'm guessing we'll soon have an Affirmative Action plan for people to become a doctor. Obama can wave his magic wand and...presto...you're a doctor. Imagine the money we'll save on tuition, the diversity we'll enjoy, the benefits of spreading the wealth, and the improved quality of care. HOPE & CHANGE! :thumb:
