This poll by the New England Journal of Medicine "Health Reform and Primary Care Physicians • 46.3% of primary care physicians (family medicine and internal medicine) feel that the passing of health reform will either force them out of medicine or make them want to leave medicine. " There are more results of different questions in link but that one jumps out.The Link Also notice though that like everyone else Docs polled said reform is necessary but NOT this plan
I work with surgeons every day and they--to a person-----said that they would not go through Medical School again given what is on the horizon. If fact a couple said that they have tried to dissuade family members NOT to pursue medicine. Truly a sad and ominous time in this Great Country's History! Plus I wonder how many of the "Doctors" that met with BHO both times really were in "Private Practice" versus working in an Academic institution? Somehow I think that percentage would be under 15%.
This one is interesting as well, I wonder how this 36% overlaps with the 46.3%: • 36% of physicians would not recommend medicine as a career, regardless of health reform. About 5 years ago I was originating mortgages and my company told us one day they were cutting our bonus structure practically in half. We didn't take a poll, but I think more than 46.3% of us would have said that change would force us out of originations or make us want to leave originations. In reality, almost no one did. We were still being compensated very well for what we were doing, even though it really sucked to take a huge pay cut. I'm not saying "screw doctors - they make a lot of money". I'm guessing what they respond to a survey pre-health reform would probably greatly change when the rubber meets the road.
Plus I wonder how many of the "Doctors" that met with BHO both times really were in "Private Practice" __________________________________________________ well if you recall, the white house had to lend out white jackets to some of them for the photo-op so the obama disciples could see for themselves that the president was meeting with doctors.
My wife's OB said the same thing recently...that she would not go through medical school again and encourages others in not going down the same road. She mentioned that her med. mal insurance runs around $45K per year.
Well, what's going to eventually happen is that the very good doctors are going to opt out of the government plan and start private all inclusive clinics/hospitals. I think this is the best program for the future and eliminate the insurance industry all together. they can create a new market for those that want to pay for treatments as they come as opposed to paying an insurance company a monthly high premium.
l wouldn't do it again that's for sure. Once you get 4 years of medical school and, in my case, 5 years of residency and 1 year of fellowship invested in something, you can't really just walk away. I would if I could at this point, though. I can assure you that I will do everything I can to dissuade my 2 kids from going into to medicine- although I don't think it will be very hard to do since they see their dad on call one night a week and every 3rd weekend plus a couple of holidays a year. Everyone likes to ***** about "doctor money" but very few have the initiative to sacrifice for it. Once compensation goes down even more without tort reform, even fewer are going to want to go into this field. If medicare cuts continue coupled with fewer people going into medicine, it appears to be a sad future for the elderly.
ToxicShockYou are right. most of us have no idea what you actually go through to become a physician. All we know is we see you drive expensive cars. live in nice houses but you damn well better be there for us when we need you and OH not charge us a lot plus if something should go wrong we want to sue your *** and we know juries will award us huge amounts becase, well you are rich and you probably deserve it. ( NOTE this does not include the horrible docs who should not be allowed to practice) There is a reason NO Physician who is also serving in Congress is for this. There is a reason Pelosi is speaking of using this method to protect Dem Reps so they don't have this up or down vote on their record. To borrow from kathleen Parker's op in today'sWaPo "If health-care reform as proposed were so good for the nation, why wouldn't legislators prefer to run on rather than away from that record? If you can't run on the strength of the laws you pass, then either you shouldn't be running or you shouldn't be passing. "
I talked about this last week. the law of unintended consequences. You limit what docs can make then they will go do something else. you then get the smart people who were going into medicine going into something else. you get fewer doctors now servicing more people so either costs continue to rise significantly, or you get a huge back log like you see in other countries where it takes a year to get a hip replacement surgery, and 6 months to get an appointment to check on that tumor you have suddenly growing on that lymph node in your neck. But hey, those evil doctors will no longer be "rich", and everyone will have care. Another utopian victory where we all lose. just like social security, their war on poverty, medicare, medicaid, etc, etc, etc. Oh, and lets not forget that all those smart people who might have gone to med school will now go do something else so we water down the quality of the potential pool of applicants for med school. BUt hey, we will all have insurance, and apparently it will all be free. I also hear they have great beaches in the 57th state.
Primary docs already take it in the shorts for medicine. We make a decent living and are by no means American rich. We deal the most will regulation, paperwork, social issues, referral nightmares, etc. S$@% rolls downhill in medicine. I don't think you can put much more on the backs of this infrastructure without breaking it.
obama said yesterday in his campaign mode town hall that if you have insurance provided by your company that the insurance rates will go down 3,000% and we will all get raises. I am not joking, i heard it. does anyone think he is telling the truth or is this his way of saying employers are going to drop your *** from your plan and you will be in the government insurance plan?
Don't go into medicine for the money. That said, you will still make good money and job security is relatively stable. With health care reform (or without it), certain specialties stand to get chipped away more than others. Anesthesiologists are at risk of getting supplanted by certified nurse anesthetists. Imagine being a nurse trained for anesthesia and starting with a salary of $175k. Not bad. Radiologists stand to be in greater competition with overseas radiologists in places like India where films and studies are sent and read electronically and then signed off by someone on the mainland. Primary care providers are the front line for dealing with a lot of things, but I really feel for them to the extent that they deal with all things that fall under the umbrella of mental conditions and co-morbid chemical dependency. If you're not geared to engage that head-on for the long haul, that can be a real burn. I had lunch today with 3 other docs. We caught ourselves admitting that we have it pretty well off, then one of the docs admonished about not publicly sounding too happy about what we earn. "oh, yeah," I thought. "Almost forgot."
That health care reform would reduce the number of doctors in the country is a myth. Medical schools' acceptance rate average ~8%. There are tens of thousands of young American graduates chomping at the bit to get into medical school, so if doctors leave there are a legion eager to replace them. Maybe a few people in it solely for the money go into banking instead and the acceptance rate rises to 15%. The graduation rate would remain the same because the primary limit on supply of doctors is not people's desire to be a doctor but rather the supply of medical schools. The American Medical Association has endorsed Congress' health care reform bills. I think doctors and hospitals will appreciate more of their patients having health insurance.
An article about shrinking membership for the AMA is a non-sequitur for the argument that the AMA represents doctors. As is your assertion the statistic that 29% are medical students or residents. Medical students will be soon be doctors whose careers are impacted by the same policies as senior doctors. Residents are practicing doctors without the large salary. So their role in the organization is just as valid for representing doctors as anyone else. The AMA's endorsement of health care reform is a powerful one.
I wouldn't do it again, especially with the amounts of debt the current med students are coming away with. I even advised my own daughter to not go the med school route unless her heart was in it 2000% and she spent a summer following a doctor around. The real problem that should be discussed is the future shortage of PCPs, and this will affect: a lot of people
Don't go into medicine for the money - for the patients' sake. If money is what drives you to into a career in medicine, and you are shrewd and motivated enough, you can pick a specialty and location where you can attain your monetary goal.
I guess other Western countries haven't any luck getting good physicians, either - regardless of it being in systems where the physician is an employee of the government like the UK (actual "socialized medicine"), or in those with single-payer systems with independent physicians (ie. France) Oh - by the way, in considering the above- you might also take into account the following: "Seven years ago, the World Health Organization made the first major effort to rank the health systems of 191 nations. France and Italy took the top two spots; the United States was a dismal 37th." NY Times, August 12, 2007
