spouse of scouse

Now you're just being nasty. If you are indeed a medical practitioner then you're doing your profession a huge disservice with this and other comments you've made.

civilservant

A) Because my wife does
B) because it pays the bills

Thanks for summing up my point in a single sentence.

Do you even remember what the point of medicine is?

AdobePinon

expatdoc

Hang on a minute so its ok for the all the folks on here to say that a) MDs are universally overpaid b) dropping the salary by 100k will fix the 100k doctor shortage (love the theory behind that one) but when I say something tongue in cheek its nasty! Hmm the irony!

Especially coming from someone working in the completely immoral world of finance who justifies it by saying 'bills to pay' well dont we all! A world where the taxpayer has repeatedly had to involuntarily bail them out after repeated 'f' ups costing trillions while at the same time watching them drive off in their bonus lined Porsche with their middle fingers firmly stuck up at the public who have to keep saving them time after time.

civilservant

*sigh*

Just goes to show that education, common sense, and the ability to comprehend English, are often mutually exclusive.

expatdoc

You've also clearly demonstrated the intelligence to work in finance especially the idea of cutting salaries to boost a non-existent workforce. Maybe try that in the world of finance as opposed to repeatedly asking the Fed to bail you out when the random number generators that exist in your temporal gyri repeatedly fail...

Jerseygirl

You are not a very good representative for your profession.

Shame on you.

moneypenny20

Speaking as a Brit living on the Gold Coast and knowing several British GPs, may I just say.. You're talking bollocks but I'll be sure to tell them about you next time I see them. You'll see the eye rolls from whatever bridge you're living under.

tom169

Had thankfully few, but good experiences with healthcare here. Had a couple child births in the family and witnessed what appeared to be better attention and luxury than in the UK. I think physicians warrant their salary. Med school is long, expensive (not only the tuition etc, but the opportunity cost of not entering the workplace sooner), and frankly the school is really tough. If the UK can't retain people then that's on NHS management to figure out, just like it is in the private sector. In the USA where a decent middle-class job is six figures, I expect that times a few for a qualified and experienced Dr in a city / larger system.

civilservant

You know, I used to think that Doctors actually loved their profession and did it because of that love - the salary was purely incidental and a good number of times was well deserved.

If you attitude is indicative of most MDs, that opinion was wrong.

For the last time - healthcare finance is hardly the same category of finance you are referring too. I can assure you that I don't make anywhere near as much as you do. I'm guessing about 40% of it. I don't resent that, because ultimately the services of the physician that are the whole point, but it's easier to see why the trend is to jettison MD services in favor of using Nurse Practitioners. So much cheaper.

tom169

I've also seen trends recently to reduce the amount of RNs and have CNAs instead. I doubt any of that cost savings are passed on to the patient.

TexanScot

I said nothing of the sort, which makes me think you are intentionally misquoting me to be antagonistic.

What I actually said was that if the average doctor's income was reduced by $100k, I don't think there would be any noticeable drop in the number of students wishing to become a doctor - the implication there is that a doctor's income is already sufficiently high that there would be room for it to drop without people thinking that the profession was not financially viable for them to enter.

At no point did I even remotely suggest that dropping a doctor's income would fix the doctor "shortage".

petitefrancaise

let's all get citizenship and vote for Bernie!
expatdoc continues to come on the forum and behave like a spoiled toddler. So just ignore him.

robtuck

I have family working in the NHS, I have used the services of the NHS and have nothing but good thoughts about it.
I have personally held Private Insurance in the UK (through work benefits) without ever needing to use it, my brother has skipped the NHS queues by leveraging his employer funded Private Healthcare in the UK, as well as having used NHS services.
I've had experience of using the USA Healthcare system - son had a double Hernia Op and daughter was admitted to the ER after fainting and hitting her head, while complaining about pains in her arm. It was a very pleasant experience, as much as using a hospital can be, as well as being eye watering when it came to the bills. Fortunately the good employer insurance covered most of it, but still felt that pain the wallet.
On the whole, I am lucky in that the USA system probably washed out in balance with the NHS/Private combo I might have had in the UK. I am not completely selfish though, and can see how the USA system costs are an extreme burden to those who find they need to use it. There s very little difference in output between the two systems that should justify the variation in cost.

Psyman

Crikey. Not sure where you practice or what field you're in, but I hope I never have to use your services.