Maybe its a regional thing then. Because my friends in medical school (or trying to get in) aren't doing it for the money. None of my primary care physicians have been that way either, nor any of the doctors I work with as part of my job.
I do want doctors to make very good money. They have very expensive and long education, it is a very demanding profession and what they do is very important and difficult (especially when done right). I suspect that you also don't know any rural physicians. GP in a rural environment is not 500K a year job, believe me. And yes, that is part of the reason that rural america is underserved medically but there are still many doctors out there making a decent, if not lavish, living and doing something they love. Hell, if everyone was motivated by making the most money possible they would all go into dermatology. You should see a dermatology schedule, they book through 30 or 40 fifteen minute appointments a day easy plus markups on creams, lotions, laser treatments...the list goes on. Anyway, I don't have to rely on anecdotal story versus story to say that you, Gruss and Rob are incorrect in your thinking about what the medical community wants. There are actual polls out there that show substantial support for a single payer, government sponsored health insurance plan. National Survey showing 59% in favor of single payer plan with far higher rates in many specialties: http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/march/most_doctors_support.php New Hampshire Medical Society poll showing support for single payer by 2/3rds of physicians in NH: http://www.nhms.org/topics/12-14-2007_a.pdf Minnesota Medicine poll showing 64% of MN doctors favoring single payer: http://www.minnesotamedicine.com/PastIssues/February2007/ClinicalHealthCareFebruary2007/tabid/1709/Default.aspx Perhaps your cynicism about doctors is well founded. I don't know. But you are all wrong about doctors not supporting a single payer health plan. Judah On Sat, May 2, 2009 at 4:34 AM, Scott Stroz <[email protected]> wrote: > > A doctor's business is taking care of sick people. The keyword there is > 'business', not 'sick people'. > There are a plethora of reasons why someone becomes a doctor, but very few > of them don't have 'money' on their list of reasons why. You may get the > occaisional doctor where this is not the case, but it is the exceprion, not > the rule. I started working in a hospital setting when I was 15 and stopped > when I was 35 - in that time, I can recall meeting only 1 doctor who really > did not care about the money - he gave away most of his salary to charity > and lived a very humble, almost destitute, life ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:296637 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
