my primary physician excepts cash... we are in agreement that i will pay cash, he will give me great care... and save the insurance for the big ticket items...

i have no problem paying 200 bucks for 15 minutes of his time.... and regardless of how crappy obaminationcare becomes... he will give me the best healthcare he can... and he has doctors in belize, bermuda and the caymans... that can give me top notch care if need be if the american system gets destroyed.... its just a matter of cash...

but for the time being... its status quo

Oddly, people come to the US from all over the world to get better care and to get treatments not available in their home countries.. People in the US travel all over the world to get cheaper healthcare..

Yes our system is messed up. A simple solution would have been to just open the insurance markets to a nationwide system as well as offer up co-ops, the fact that the insurance system is regulated on a state by state basis is the biggest reason why we are where we are at. It wouldn't have taken the wide sweeping changes that are being implemented to fix it.

One telling issue is that if this is the system to fix all then why are there states, unions, lawmakers and other entities that are allowed to "opt" out? Why would we still need Medicare and Medicaid if this system supposedly insures everyone? It's a half assed answer to a problem that could have been implemented in a much better way simply by spending a bit more time on it rather than ramming through a piece of legislation just for the sake of doing it.

I am 43 and self employed, I pay out of pocket for my doctor visits (I have only actually been to the doctor 3 times in the last 20 years) outside of that I maintain a catastrophic policy just in case anything serious happens, my insurance will be increasing. A comparable plan through an exchange is double what I pay now.

Oh the "poor" doctors.....


A recent news story in my hometown released some nice facts about how much money these "poor" doctors were getting from the pharmaceutical companies.

One local doctor was receiving a bit over $500,000.00 per year so he'd push their products.




I don't think that particular pill pusher, or any of the others of his ilk, will be suffering any income loss. They'll just get more from their "sources".


Geez, sort of sounds like drug dealers doesn't it?


My doc starts wearing big azz gold chains and driving an Escalade with 24" rims, I'm changing docs..... ;-)

Edited: not, not going to get sucked into this one. :D

As I was reading the 4 pages of well written and neutral posts without the usual name calling and bickering, I was proud of all of you guys.
... and then TSS posted his trash. I know one CI that makes good money, therefore by extension every CI is over-billing, overcharging and should be put down. Damn CIs... :-)
Rant over; please continue.

Wait a minute Mario??? You know a CI who makes money??? Now I know you are lying! ;)

Day three of trying to create an account and actually login so I can see the rates. Still have not been successful. I wonder if the cost of lost productivity has been calculated into the true cost of this program???

Our rates haven't changed at all. 

Cost of insurances in the US has been crazy for a long time and there are tons and tons of terrible stories, so pretending like the old system was perfect is silly. 

We were all paying for everyone else anyway, it was just through higher prices and taxes. 

Nice thread.

"hey everyone, here's a hornet's nest for you to play with".

55 posts in a political thread and no insight from Mr Stanley? This isn't the RC Installers Lounge I've grown to love/hate.

Sure there will always be corrupt doctors....

But "Poor Doctors" is not too far off in most cases. I have two Doctor friends. They both work for clinics. They, over last five years have been forced to take 10 to 15 percent pay cuts each year. They work long hours, are forced via a quota system to keep the visit's short, and the paperwork they have to deal with is unreal. They are both now earning approx. $100,000K annually they are both excellent Dr.'s (internal medicine & family Granted I'd be thrilled to be making that kind of money, but then again I didn't spend 10 years in Med school, and I don't make life-changing decisions every day.

I know plumbers, and some of us guys that make way more than that.

Just sayin'

Well said Mario and Mr. Stanley.
No doctors I know are crying poor and that is not the issue. The issue is that there is a certain dollar amount it takes to put up with a lot of the crap that comes with being a physician some of which Mr. Stanley has elluded to.
I see the same thinking from people in this forum all the time. For example, how many posts complain about a pain in the ass customer that you don't want to deal with so you make a ridiculous bid so you can either walk away or the money will be worth the BS.
I love being a physician, but at some point the BS may not be worth it, and unfortunatly a lot of the BS comes mandated from the government which just got bigger in the form of the ACA. I have read plenty of threads on this forum with similar theme, just different profession.
Unfortunatly the doctor pay issue falls on deaf ears because nobody is going to feel sorry for someone making 6 figures, but it is part of the whole health care equation that needs to be figured out otherwise we will see a mass exudice from the profession and certainly will see no one going into primary care which is already at a shortage.
Chad

Move to Canada :)

The only CI I know that is overcharging is some guy from Albuquerque, New Mexico!!