Doctor-dentist article about Maine (Bangor, Augusta: 2009, health insurance, luxury)

[gcberry]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/us...tist.html?_r=1

[tcrackly]

You would think that the state would supply a tax break for dentists to encourage more to stay or emigrate to the Maine community.

[dmyankee]

You can give graduating dentists all the tax and tuition breaks you want. Maine does not have the population with enough income to support more than a handful. Many more Mainers than not, are uninsured, or on Medicare or Maincare.

I have seen this with the rural doctor program. By the time they do their three or four years up here and get some of their debt forgiven, most of them can not wait to bug out and make the real money that many of their peers are enjoying elsewhere.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

I have never had dental insurance, but I still have my teeth. It's worth the expense of maintenance. No matter what your profession, a newcomer needs to know he is entering an environment where the populace has the highest per capita tax burden in the entire nation. Some wag in Augusta issued a press release showing he had rejiggered the numbers to show that we are really 15th. Not so. Per capita taxes have gone up and per capita spending has gone up. The Augusta functionary was deducting taxes we pay on such things as camps, boats and various other "luxury" items. We pay it. They spend it. Same old, same old.

[bignhfamily]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

... We pay it. They spend it. Same old, same old.

Sounds a lot like our new stimulus plan!

[gussie]

My niece is a dentist in the Chicago area. She is used to living in a big city, having been to The University of Illinois Chicago. I am sure she would love the lovely scenery here.. but as for living here,, I'm afraid noway..When I went to a dentist in Machias he thought it was funny and I really mean it that people here in Maine have so much teeth loss problems. I did not think it was funny.. but he did and thought it amusing... very sad!

[BrokenTap]

Originally Posted by dmyankee

You can give graduating dentists all the tax and tuition breaks you want. Maine does not have the population with enough income to support more than a handful. Many more Mainers than not, are uninsured, or on Medicare or Maincare.

I have seen this with the rural doctor program. By the time they do their three or four years up here and get some of their debt forgiven, most of them can not wait to bug out and make the real money that many of their peers are enjoying elsewhere.

This is depressing for me too. Over the years the local community center has had a wonderful Dr. Now I just found out that she will be leaving. When I find health professionals that are good, I actually write letters and hand deliver them which basically state, "We need good Drs in Maine and I encourage you to stay here." Because of this I found out the main reason Drs leave...

Mainer's are good people, but we are stubborn too and most of the patients just do not take their Dr's suggestions. After a few years of this, they grow tired of it and move on.

Insurance is anoither issue. Unless you are in the health profession or a teacher, the amounts of benefits has declined rapidly in the last few years for most Mainer's. It is pretty hard to prescribe good health practices when those people just cannot afford it on their own.I got good health insurance, but even then my benefits have drastically been cut in the past year.

Our standard of living is slowly losing its standards. Insurance companies play a shell game and claim losses in the millions to get the insurance board to up the rates, when in fact they are making milions and millions of dollars.

[tcrackly]

Originally Posted by dmyankee

You can give graduating dentists all the tax and tuition breaks you want. Maine does not have the population with enough income to support more than a handful. Many more Mainers than not, are uninsured, or on Medicare or Maincare.

I have seen this with the rural doctor program. By the time they do their three or four years up here and get some of their debt forgiven, most of them can not wait to bug out and make the real money that many of their peers are enjoying elsewhere.

You're right there. I wouldn't have had all my dental work without the insurance. Now that I'm without insurance again I have to put all my efforts into prevention and hope for the best. Sad scenario.

[txmom]

We found a wonderful pediatric dentist in Bangor when we moved here - now he is closing his practice and moving. We will take the kids to a local family dentist, but it sure was nice to have a pediatric dentist.

[forest beekeeper]

We don't have dental insurance. My former employer does offer a policy, the monthly fee is over $200, the co-pay is high, and the list of approved procedures is short.

We did have full-coverage provided for us for over 20 years. We found that they only provided for my Dw to have temp fillings. It took us years to discover this and the delay cost us dearly. As each filling she got would fall out a year or two later. They would gladly re-drill each tooth and fill it again and again. When there is no longer enough left of a tooth to re-drill and fill, they say that you now need a root-canal and such is not covered. So then we began paying for root canals out of our pocket. And we researched why this all happened.

If we had refused the company dental in the first place. Gone to local dentists for cleanings and fillings we would have spent far less of our own money.

It has been our experience has been that such employer provided dental coverage plans are truly a health risk; as evidenced by my Dw's missing teeth.

I prefer going in with cash and paying for services provided.

Our medical coverage is similar. We prefer seeing and being treated by doctors who have college degrees and who have attended medical school. A 20 year old kid who attended a 6 week school is not the sane thing as a real doctor.

The best thing that my former employer's medical plan did for me was they taught my how to use sutures, they encouraged me to suture myself whenever possible. I have sutured my children while standing in a hospital ER, but I would have preferred to have been in a facility that had a doctor in it.