Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (118970)	8/20/2009 1:38:50 PM
From: ChinuSFO	Respond to of 542836

....rely on family caregiving to lessen costs for seniors. That has become a casualty in cost cutting efforts in California after Gov. Terminator reduced the budget for in home care. On the health care issue we need only look at our school system with public schools, private schools, parochial schools etc. where each offers a choice for our parents. It is not that the parents have to send their children to either the private or parochial schools. And in this recession (no money), the enrollment in the public schools have gone up and that in private schools have dwindled

To: Rambi who wrote (118970)	8/20/2009 3:10:53 PM
From: KonKilo	Respond to of 542836

Sometimes I despair of us ever having a sensible, humane health care policy. Starting with the fact that we refuse to recognize as medicine one of the oldest, safest and most effective natural substances known to man. For reasons that seem to center on its side effect of causing euphoria. I'd imagine everyone can guess what that is. Heaven knows, we can't have people being healthy and happy at the same time.

To: Rambi who wrote (118970)	8/20/2009 6:11:04 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542836

Malpractice costs were only a small slice of the pie that pushes our costs up, which surprised me, since we hear so much about them. Rambi, this point has been made over and over again for at least the past 15 years in study after study. I remember hearing a talk given at the Cleveland Clinic (yes, Bob, in your home town--although I heard the talk on NPR) on this very topic back in the 90s. It is a great example of how, if people keep repeating the same thing on news shows and talk radio in a voice that screams certainty, the real facts simply do not matter. Anecdotal "evidence" beats down the studies. The studies are too complicated, they are too hard for most people to read. And if you try to tell people what the studies actually show, they will still believe the facts that they believe they know.

To: Rambi who wrote (118970)	8/20/2009 6:24:09 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 542836

"Our hospital costs and doctor salaries are WAY out of line with everyone else's." There's lots of ways to look at their income. Turns out they will barely be hit by the tax increase for >250K. >40% of that income goes out in expenses, too... If docs wanted to get rich, they would give up 6 years of training and get paid 10 mil for doing harm for a Wall St. trading firm. .... Suppose we say, as I would, that the income physicians earn after practice expenses, working full time caring for patients, should put them somewhere into the top fifth percentile of the nation’s distribution of income (meaning 95 percent of families would have a lower annual income). What income level might we then be talking about? The chart below presents the distribution of money income of American families in 2007, as published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. The data are for 2007, the latest year published at this site; but these distributions do not shift substantially in the span of two years. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2009 Annual Social and Economic Supplement, Table FIN-07 It turns out that an annual income of $250,000 or so would comfortably meet the fifth percentile threshold. Many primary-care physicians — especially pediatricians — are considerably below that threshold. Physicians who derive a substantial part of their incomes from procedures — such as tests or imaging — are situated much above the threshold. They are comfortably in the top second percentile of the income distribution. economix.blogs.nytimes.com Oh..average work week 54 hours (I think that doesn't include continuing ed) Many people tell medical students not to worry about the number of hours they work during residency because once you get out and you're board certified, you won't be working nearly as much. As seen from the data below, for many specialties, that is a myth. While most practicing physicians are not working anywhere near the 80+ hours per week required by certain residency programs, many specialties are well into 60 hours per week and some even approach 70 hours per week on average. Bottom line: You need to enjoy what you do because you'll probably be working significantly more hours than non-physician employees during both residency and your entire career. Choose a specialty you find interesting and enjoyable; not one that you believe will allow you to spend half your day at the golf course. medfriends.org