Sorry for my cynical views, but its almost always about the money. You can do just as much or even more to affect the well being of a patient by becoming a nurse or Physician's Assistant or Nurse Practitioner, hell in even a paramedic. And what is the most obvious difference in those careers when compared to doctors? Salary. So, while a lot of people may try to sell you on the fact that they are not dong it 'for the money', I would be willing to bet that an overwhelming majority of those have money as one of reasons for persuing a career as a doctor. Maybe not the only, or even the biggest, but its definitely a reason. Sorry, but when even the worst doctor in the US can pull in several hundred thousand dollars a year, the supposed altruistic reasons for persuing such a career are kind of hard to swallow. I never made a claim that physician's were against a single payer system - not sure where you got that from. On Sat, May 2, 2009 at 11:06 AM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]> wrote:
> > 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:296656 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
