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People may be surprised when their PCP refuses to participate in the government-run program where payments to providers may well be based upon Medicare fees.
Down the road, it will get tougher to attract Drs from overseas - particularly India, as standards of living and career opportunities there continue to improve. We are already seeing some "reverse immigration" as people return to India and China taking their US aquired skills with them.
I suspect there are still fewer medical school spots than there are "qualified" (whatever that term means) applicants, so opening more medical schools might help. However, given the debt these people take on, the outragous malpractice premiums they pay, and the reduced opportunity to make a meaningful return on their investments as government squeezes medicare/medicaid, I suspect there will be fewer of the "best and brightest" pursuing medicine. Why do that when you can become a Tort Lawyer and make the big bucks with the full protection of current health care proposals?
Ultimately (not sure what the horizon is) we will probably end up with a system where the Government employes all medical people and owns all the other providers (drug companies, hospitals, medical instrument makers, etc) and we have a single payer - the US Government controlling ALL aspects of medical care in this country. I expect that by then I will have had my Death Panel Review and not have to worry about the impact this all would have on health care, but that's another discussion.
I wish some of the professionals in the medical community would dial in on this question. I mean they must know that there will be a large crush of new patients hitting the market very shortly and have some plan to deal with it. I'm curious to know what that plan is. I guess I'll just have to go on some of the medical forums out there and see how they plan to deal with this. Surely they can't just have their head in the sand.
It was very frustrating for me to dial Dr after Dr only to be told, "I'm sorry, Dr so and so is not accepting any new patients at this time." And this is with a gold plated health care plan.
Down the road, it will get tougher to attract Drs from overseas - particularly India, as standards of living and career opportunities there continue to improve. We are already seeing some "reverse immigration" as people return to India and China taking their US aquired skills with them.
I suspect there are still fewer medical school spots than there are "qualified" (whatever that term means) applicants, so opening more medical schools might help. However, given the debt these people take on, the outragous malpractice premiums they pay, and the reduced opportunity to make a meaningful return on their investments as government squeezes medicare/medicaid, I suspect there will be fewer of the "best and brightest" pursuing medicine. Why do that when you can become a Tort Lawyer and make the big bucks with the full protection of current health care proposals?
Ultimately (not sure what the horizon is) we will probably end up with a system where the Government employes all medical people and owns all the other providers (drug companies, hospitals, medical instrument makers, etc) and we have a single payer - the US Government controlling ALL aspects of medical care in this country. I expect that by then I will have had my Death Panel Review and not have to worry about the impact this all would have on health care, but that's another discussion.
Uhm under single payer, the government does NOT control all aspects of the medical care. They are simply a payer, nothing more, nothing less.
I tend to stop taking people seriously once they bring up Death Panels. The myth of death panels has been busted by any reputable source. The government is not trying to kill you or any of that other bs.
When there were teacher shortages we instituted incentives for people to go into the field and work in the areas that had the most need (grants, loan forgiveness, etc.). I don't see why that won't work with medical professinals.
First off, let me say up front that I would like to see Universal Health Care in this country but I'll settle for health care reform as proposed in the house and senate bills. This year my Primary Care Doctor of 12 years decided to charge 1500 per year and limit his practice to 600 patients effectively dumping 2200 patients. This 1500 is paid by the patient in addition to whatever health insurance and patient co pays. At my last consultation with my PCP I was given a list of 6 Drs. I had to call 5 of them before I found one who was accepting new patients. I currently have good health insurance. BCBS administers the plan but my company pays the bills directly. Still, 5 doctors refused to take me due to current patient load.
My question is, with the insurance mandate for health care and bringing in 47 million more people into the system, where are we gonna find the Drs. to meet the increased patient load?
Not looking for a partisan fight but would like to know if anyone has any honest answers as this directly affects me with the health problems I have. This new Dr. spent 10 minutes with me and admitted he did not have my medical history yet. He spent most the time trying to sign me up for a shingles vaccination.
I agree with other posters who stated that we would bring in doctors from other countries.
[quote=PurpleLove08;11426305]
I tend to stop taking people seriously once they bring up Death Panels.
Lighten up - it was meant to be a joke.
I agree that nothing in the present legislation will lead to what my post suggests, I'm just taking it to where it COULD go, over time, as the Government becomes a single payer. For example, if we are going to stongly influence how much Docters can make (and we will if we are really going to reduce costs), we will need to subsidize their education so they don't graduate with 6 figure debt. We need to "subsidize" their mal practice insurance. If we are going to do that, why not just make them government employees?
I agree that nothing in the present legislation will lead to what my post suggests, I'm just taking it to where it COULD go, over time, as the Government becomes a single payer. For example, if we are going to stongly influence how much Docters can make (and we will if we are really going to reduce costs), we will need to subsidize their education so they don't graduate with 6 figure debt. We need to "subsidize" their mal practice insurance. If we are going to do that, why not just make them government employees?
Given how some people actually believe that death panel bs, I try to be careful about what I say or try to put up some kind of smiley indicating my sarcasm:
In any case, it would make more sense to make them government employees but how many Americans and American doctors would go for that? I think most could handle single payer but not socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is where the government owns the hospitals, the doctors, nurses,etc. are government employees, so on and so forth.
One step at a time. Single payer is fine and if the American people WANT socialized medicine, I'm all for it.
I think under a single payer system, salaries would go down [the disparities between specialties and general medicine will narrow] but it would be offset by a reduction in medical malpractice rates. I'm all for medical malpractice reform as long as it doesn't harm patients. I don't like limiting the amount patients can sue for because every case is different.
My main goal is to have a better health care system, a fairer health care system, and a cheaper health care system. All of this is possible under single payer. =]
Well we are in the problem that we are in now because Doctors Associations like the AMA have been trying to keep the number of doctors going into med school very low so that they can demand higher prices. They are simply controlling supply and demand. We have to begin accepting more people into Med school.
Well we are in the problem that we are in now because Doctors Associations like the AMA have been trying to keep the number of doctors going into med school very low so that they can demand higher prices. They are simply controlling supply and demand. We have to begin accepting more people into Med school.
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