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Many people say they want their medical costs to go down, and that the doctors are greedy for their high pay. When you have low paid doctors (and add in a dose of corruption), you could get a nice health care system such as Romania. Think if they start trying to rein in compensation other docs will start their own informal systems?
Dr. Vasile Astarastoae, a biomedical ethicist who is president of the Romanian College of Physicians, which represents 47,000 doctors, blamed a pitifully low average monthly wage of about $510 for doctors for the bribe-taking.
“Patients don’t want to go to a doctor who is distracted thinking, ‘How will I feed my kids or pay the rent?’ ” Dr. Astarastoae said. “So there is a conspiracy between the doctor and the patient to pay a bribe.”
He said that unlike in many Western countries, where doctors are respected and handsomely rewarded for years of hard study, the medical profession here had been denigrated under Communist leaders who made workers in factories the country’s heroes.
If you want to reduce the salaries of doctors, you first have to reduce their insurance costs. Some pay as much as $250,000 per year just for malpractice insurance. What's needed is tort reform, not salary caps.
Real interesting post. There are two ways to look at this subject.
The first way is from the doctor’s perspective. They will tell you they have a total of twelve years of college (true for specialists). Generally, when they leave medical school they have hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans and malpractice insurance fees are in the tens of thousands per year. Insurance carriers place caps on how much they can bill out and so it’s a constant fight. They have a tremendous amount of professional expenses with staff, offices… and therefore are entitled to be properly recompensed for the type of work they do. And all of this makes sense.
The other side of the coin is that despite what doctors go thru they tend to attain a pretty darn great lifestyle in a hurry once they start practicing medicine (or at least most do). Healthcare is expensive, it’s a burden on all who have to pay- either for just healthcare premiums or out of their pocket. They could cut their fees 25% and still be rich. So what’s the difference?
In general, I tend to side with the doctors. As a malpractice claims adjuster I see first hand the type of dedication and on-going training these people have. Diagnosing and treating the human body is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do. I feel the money they make is a just incentive for staying competitively good and frankly, when my life hangs in the balance, I’ll take an American doctor who makes a lot of money any day over some national healthcare doctor on a salary regardless of whether or not people die on them.
If you want to reduce the salaries of doctors, you first have to reduce their insurance costs. Some pay as much as $250,000 per year just for malpractice insurance. What's needed is tort reform, not salary caps.
How true. One of my cousins was a doctor in a small town - mostly Medicare/Medicaid patients. Had to retire early (not that comfortably) when his insurance premiums tripled in three years.
If you want to reduce the salaries of doctors, you first have to reduce their insurance costs. Some pay as much as $250,000 per year just for malpractice insurance. What's needed is tort reform, not salary caps.
Actually, what's needed is the reform of the insurance industry, not a tort reform. Medical malpractice payouts have actually declined steadily over the past 15 years, while premiums have risen. Moreover, even in states that have enacted tort reform, premiums keep growing, and insurance careers were blatantly lying to legislatures when they promised to lower the premiums if caps are put on awards.
I'd say a lot of things would have to changed or simplified if we are ever going to be able to bring things back to a more even playing field. You know, it wasn't all that long ago that doctors, carpenter, etc. were all pretty closely compensated for their work. Probably because people used to use their common sense and realize that having a home to live in was just as important as having a doctor to go to. Also, the tendency to sue for selfish reasons wasn't nearly as prevalent in older times and doctors could practice without constant fear of financial ruin.
Doctors of the past were practicing medicine because they wanted to help people. These days, if you ask most kids why they have decided they want to be doctors, they will tell you so they can make lots of money, and help people. The money comes first these days for everyone in every walk of life and that is why we are falling apart. A return to the older ways of doing things would be a wonderful change, and might bring back some of the American soul we have steadily been losing over the last 60 or 70 years.
I realize this statement offers nothing in the way of a real solution. But in a way it does if for no other reason than offering food for thought. We are all so busy worrying about advancement in the future that we forget how much better some of the older ways worked. Advancement is wonderful, but it shouldn't take such a large toll on morality and equality.
In general, I tend to side with the doctors. As a malpractice claims adjuster I see first hand the type of dedication and on-going training these people have. Diagnosing and treating the human body is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do. I feel the money they make is a just incentive for staying competitively good and frankly, when my life hangs in the balance, I’ll take an American doctor who makes a lot of money any day over some national healthcare doctor on a salary regardless of whether or not people die on them.
Same here, I tend to side with the docs (working in hospitals over 5 years). Their work is extremely risky, extremely demanding with stress/keeping current, plus all that school many graduate with over $120k in debt.
I think the overhead many docs need dealing with all the regulations and insurance is bloated like crazy, often needing a very good number of fairly well trained staff to work on things...and often with many disputes with private and government carriers.
Torts I think it's difficult, premiums are often so large it's pretty debilitating. Though I think people who are not hurt badly get too much in settlements, and those who get hurt very badly don't get enough. I know during one of my stints one of the docs accidentally put the person in a medically induced coma due to a dosage mistake...no real harm but a bit of extra cost that was absorbed by us. Another was a TEE where the patient died as a result of complications (though he was pretty elderly). Both received the same settlement from the legal team, which I think is completely unfair.
I agree, instead of reducing doctors pay checks which they actually EARN with long hours and most of the time being "on call" a few nights a week and let's reduce or put a cap on what movie stars and sport players make.
that would be more appropriate since they dont work very hard for their money IMO...at least not hard enough to warrant making millions.
I agree, instead of reducing doctors pay checks which they actually EARN with long hours and most of the time being "on call" a few nights a week and let's reduce or put a cap on what movie stars and sport players make.
that would be more appropriate since they dont work very hard for their money IMO...at least not hard enough to warrant making millions.
I agree. We can put a cap on these people's salaries, just don't go to the movies. Which is easier said than done. Folks do need a place to go to "get away from it all" that's affordable. Have you been to a ballgame recently? It costs over $300 for a family of four to take in a game. And those aren't the best seats either.
The doctors need to get paid for their time. They need lower malpractice insurance so they can afford to practice medicine. Without it one lawsuit can wipe out the doctor's practice, savings etc...
If anything, I think doctors tend to be underpaid. First, only the top few percent of the population has the intellectual ability to become a doctor. They should be well rewarded. Add to that 8-12 years of school, internship, residency, a high pressure, demanding job with potentially crazy hours and very expensive mal-practice insurance.
If you want to cut pay, start with lawyers, bankers and government administrators. Or, as the poster above says, actors (overpaid crybabies) and sports figures. The demands of those professions are a fraction of doctors.
I don't believe in "capping" anyone's salary, the free market will determine rewards.
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