Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - cost of health care up close and personal

greytone · 04-09-2005, 04:08 PM

Let me pipe in from the doctors' perspective. You would be amazed at what it costs to provide medical care. The malpractice insurance is actually a fairly small percentage, but because of the litiginous nature of society and because of the bureaucratic oversight from both governmental and private agencies there is a lot that is done that is probably not necessary a lot of the time. For instance, part of that fee went to the radiologist who read the Xray. I think it is good that all xrays are overread by radiologists because they pick up disease that would be missed elsewhere. On the other hand, the orthopedist could probably do just find with bone films almost always. The biggest part of healthcare cost is labor. You saw two doctors and had services from another MD. But I bet you, or your chart, or your acount came into contact with over 20 other employees. In my office we have about 4.5 full time employees per provider (MD or midlevel caregiver) and we run about 75% overhead. When I was in school docs ran around 50% overhead and took the rest home as their pay. My income is down 20% over the last 3 years despite working harder every year. I now make about the same per hour as someone working in a supervisor role with a local utility. I would not want to do what he does (climbing poles in ice storms) but I was in school until I was 30, and I work very hard and long hours, even in individual patients don't see it. Frankly, the pay had better start going in the other direction, or in the next decade we will have a real crisis. I expect to see doctor strikes and work slowdowns at some point.

I think social medicine is a bad idea for a lot of reasons. There certainly are positives, but I think they are outweighed by the negatives. However, if we are headed that way, I wish we would do so soon enough I could get my 20 years in with the federal government. Besides, then I will put in 40 hours a week and be home by 5 and not have to worry about being sued and still make about what I do now.

04-09-2005, 04:08 PM	#8 (permalink)
greytone Junkie	Let me pipe in from the doctors' perspective. You would be amazed at what it costs to provide medical care. The malpractice insurance is actually a fairly small percentage, but because of the litiginous nature of society and because of the bureaucratic oversight from both governmental and private agencies there is a lot that is done that is probably not necessary a lot of the time. For instance, part of that fee went to the radiologist who read the Xray. I think it is good that all xrays are overread by radiologists because they pick up disease that would be missed elsewhere. On the other hand, the orthopedist could probably do just find with bone films almost always. The biggest part of healthcare cost is labor. You saw two doctors and had services from another MD. But I bet you, or your chart, or your acount came into contact with over 20 other employees. In my office we have about 4.5 full time employees per provider (MD or midlevel caregiver) and we run about 75% overhead. When I was in school docs ran around 50% overhead and took the rest home as their pay. My income is down 20% over the last 3 years despite working harder every year. I now make about the same per hour as someone working in a supervisor role with a local utility. I would not want to do what he does (climbing poles in ice storms) but I was in school until I was 30, and I work very hard and long hours, even in individual patients don't see it. Frankly, the pay had better start going in the other direction, or in the next decade we will have a real crisis. I expect to see doctor strikes and work slowdowns at some point. I think social medicine is a bad idea for a lot of reasons. There certainly are positives, but I think they are outweighed by the negatives. However, if we are headed that way, I wish we would do so soon enough I could get my 20 years in with the federal government. Besides, then I will put in 40 hours a week and be home by 5 and not have to worry about being sued and still make about what I do now. __________________ I was there to see beautiful naked women. So was everybody else. It's a common failing. Robert A Heinlein in "They Do It With Mirrors"