Best place for a Doctor in Oahu (Honolulu, Kaneohe: rental, insurance)

[chrisski]

I'm finishing up my medical schooling and am thinking of moving out to Oahu.
First and foremost, are there any type of job opportunities for physicians. Secondly, where would you recommend living. I am white, intend to raise a family so would want to be near a good private school, and have around 500K to spend on a house. From my research I've found Kailua, Hawaii Kai, and Kaneohe as possible options. Any thoughts on these or any other good areas near the city would be appreciated.

[hotzcatz]

Go live there and rent in each area for at least several months before you decide to buy anything. It is almost impossible to decide on the "just right" house from far away especially since you don't know where your job will be yet.

[mdand3boys]

Rent a fully furnished vacation rental thru vrbo.com or similar and go from there. Rent for a month so you can get the feel of the area. With the economy so bad now, phone the owner and negotiate a much better deal.

[Bandalero]

Originally Posted by chrisski

I'm finishing up my medical schooling and am thinking of moving out to Oahu.
First and foremost, are there any type of job opportunities for physicians. Secondly, where would you recommend living. I am white, intend to raise a family so would want to be near a good private school, and have around 500K to spend on a house. From my research I've found Kailua, Hawaii Kai, and Kaneohe as possible options. Any thoughts on these or any other good areas near the city would be appreciated.

As I've stated here in several other threads, many of Hawaii's reputable, mainstream doctors (M.D.s) left the Islands long ago. Its simply not a favorable environment for most of them (i.e., too much micro-management by HMOs and protectionist bureaucrats). So, there should be plenty of slots around the state, especially outer island.

However, I doubt you'll be able to buy a decent single family home in either of the three Oahu communities you mentioned for $500K. It'll certainly serve as a good down payment or you, or you could opt for a small condo.

If you had been here just three weeks ago, you could have purchased the modest house across across the street from me and maybe resumed the medical practice of the former owner (an OB/GYN), but it sold for $965K last week after having been listed for 9-months at $1.2 million.

Good Luck.

[chrisski]

Originally Posted by Bandalero

As I've stated here in several other threads, many of Hawaii's reputable, mainstream doctors (M.D.s) left the Islands long ago. Its simply not a favorable environment for most of them (i.e., too much micro-management by HMOs and protectionist bureaucrats). So, there should be plenty of slots around the state, especially outer island.

However, I doubt you'll be able to buy a decent single family home in either of the three Oahu communities you mentioned for $500K. It'll certainly serve as a good down payment or you, or you could opt for a small condo.

If you had been here just three weeks ago, you could have purchased the modest house across across the street from me and maybe resumed the medical practice of the former owner (an OB/GYN), but it sold for $965K last week after having been listed for 9-months at $1.2 million.

Good Luck.

Thank You

[kaimuki]

Originally Posted by chrisski

I'm finishing up my medical schooling and am thinking of moving out to Oahu.
First and foremost, are there any type of job opportunities for physicians. Secondly, where would you recommend living. I am white, intend to raise a family so would want to be near a good private school, and have around 500K to spend on a house. From my research I've found Kailua, Hawaii Kai, and Kaneohe as possible options. Any thoughts on these or any other good areas near the city would be appreciated.

Aloha!

I have been working in health care for many, many years. Sadly, Hawaii's market is monopolized by BCBS (HMSA) (and Kaiser to a lesser extent). Reimbursements are very poor and physicians cannot negotiate with HMSA or any other payers. Depending on your specialty, malpractice insurance can be very expensive. In reality, after you pay all of your business expenses and taxes (very high), you'll be fortunate to keep 15-20 cents on every dollar collected. A lot of physicians have their offices in Honolulu (town), but depending on your specialty, you could easily set up a practice in Pearl City or Aiea, Kailua or Kaneohe, or Waialae or Kahala.

As for housing, I agree with the others about renting in a few different locations before buying anything. If you want a nice house on a sizable lot in a good neighborhood, you are looking at far more than 500K. Here are some neighborhoods you might want to do some research on:

Manoa: average price for a single family home is 800K+
Waialae: average is 650K-1M+
Kahala: 1-30M
Aina Haina: 750K+
Hawaii Kai: varies quite a bit from 650-2M
Kailua: varies quite a bit from 650-1.6M
Lanikai (Kailua Beach side): 1M-12+M

I think you and your family would feel comfortable in any one of these communities.

[Bandalero]

Originally Posted by kaimuki

Aloha!

I have been working in health care for many, many years. Sadly, Hawaii's market is monopolized by BCBS (HMSA) (and Kaiser to a lesser extent).

I would respectfully take issue with the equating of Hawaii Medical Services Association (HMSA) and Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BCBS).

I too have worked in the health care industry now for many years, and while its true that HSMA likes to tie itself to BCBS for 'positive' marketing and public appearance purposes, the reality is, they are nothing close to BCBS in terms of service, reputation or professionalism.

I've had BCBS on the U.S. Mainland dating as far back as 1975 (pre HMOs), and what the average medical patient experiences here in Hawaii with HMSA bears no resemblance whatsoever. They (HMSA) are nothing more than a corrupt bunch of ("non-profit") thieves, that have crafted themselves a very nice little "local" entity by which to steal from both physicians and patients, while paying-out millions of dollars in bonuses to their executives, like AIG.

Its only a matter of time before Kaiser-Permanente sweeps the floor with them, and good riddance in my view!

[kaimuki]

Perhaps, we agree here. I should have just mentioned HMSA instead of BCBS, but I was assuming the OP has never heard of HMSA. HMSA gets away with "things" because they are not an insurance company per say, rather they are a "mutual benefit society". Clever! HMSA's arrogance is legendary!

[chrisski]

all this info is very interesting. If i get this right it seems like I would get paid lower than average and have to pay more than average to live here. I love Hawaii, but this definitly make it a hard decision. Is there any chance for healthcare reform in the future, or should I just set my sights on the mainland.

[KoaKine]

Originally Posted by chrisski

all this info is very interesting. If i get this right it seems like I would get paid lower than average and have to pay more than average to live here. I love Hawaii, but this definitly make it a hard decision. Is there any chance for healthcare reform in the future, or should I just set my sights on the mainland.

Aloha,
This will be one of your hardest decisions you will make. Yes I am later in my life and we just made the decision to take a pay cut to live in Hawaii. It is a very personal thing and you need to figure out what you want out of life some things are not black and white but sometime the adventure is priceless. Its not always about money.