Jerseygirl

I can’t imagine he is a doctor...more like a troll.

fbf2006

Regarding the doctor "shortage," isn't it partly due to the fact that the number of funded medical residency placements are limited? Also isn't it the case that more doctors are opting to be specialists rather than primary care doctors due to the increased pay?

durham_lad

MMcD

“Primum non Nocere” (First, do no harm) !

The OP’s posts lead one to question his “listening skills” during interactions with patients, and, therefore, the consequent soundness of his judgement when diagnosing their issues.

Can’t help but wonder:
Are his patients treated with the same contemptuous disdain as his fellow BE members?

jeepster

The problem with the US healthcare system is the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Plain and simple. It has nothing to do with doctor's or nurses salaries.
A nurse or physician is one of the most emotionally draining jobs you can have. They only see people that are injured, sick or mentally ill. They see people at their worst. They deserve every penny that they get. To think you are going to improve health care by lowering salaries sounds like typical clueless management (blaming labor costs for poor financial performance).
Being an accountant or a IT professional...No comparison, those jobs are a piece of cake. If you want to cut costs that's the place to look, in virtually any organization. The British comedy "the IT Crowd", that was all true. Big Pay, Do nothing.

civilservant

You can't separate one from the other though. The insurance companies are a problem, I complexly agree, but in order for them to exist you have to have a competitive for profit healthcare model, and that model leads to absurd MD wages and waste.

The UK might have some private insurance, but it's the wholesale takeover that leads to problems.

MMcD

To compound the absurdity…

…is HOME DEPOT the “white knight”?

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/tuitio...es-2019-09-01/

(This 60 Minutes piece was originally aired back in May. It’s a bit infomercial-ish - but still, food for thought :

Will eliminating medical school loan debt, and thereby neutering 1 of the 3 bogey men ensnaring US medicine… will it be passed on as a decrease in patient costs?
Or won’t it - so long as Insurance Companies and Big Pharma remain embedded in the mix?

I fear the latter.

One benefit tho’ - might be an end to the desperate situation which created a need for the lure of special “visas dished out out like candy”, for primary care docs - which, in turn, sometimes resulted in admission of unsuitable / questionable candidates.

[QUOTE=expatdoc;12730287] immigration was easy cap exempt h1 and Green cards were dished out out like candy by any employer
Immigration for a physician here is far more straightforward with GC issued within a year, /QUOTE]


(nuff said on that aspect)

civilservant

I feel genuinely happy for these students that they don't have to bare that burden.

I do prefer the idea of forgivable loans though, it'll direct students to the areas of medicine that are most needed.

MMcD

Agreed!

OTOH - Doesn't that deny the hop-on-the-Home Depot-bandwagon big biz copy cats their gazillion dollar tax write-offs?
Very anti-capitalistic

Steerpike

Not picking on your post specifically, just wanted to comment on the issue of doctors salaries in general. A good friend of mine was married to a lady going through med school. We looked at 'the numbers'. They were shockingly unattractive, in my opinion. First, you rack up huge student loan costs due to the high cost and long length of study. Then you start out at a pretty low salary. The $250k minimum mentioned by the OP may be what you get 'eventually' when you are finally done with all the required 'on the job training' stints, but when you start out as a new grad, the pay is much less than that. At that time - back in the 2000's - we reckoned you would be better off financially in a different career making in the region of $150k (this was taking into account the 'lost opportunity cost' of not having gainful employment for many years compared to other professions).

Also, my personal doctor - not a friend, but someone I've grown to know over 25 years of 'using' him - tells me he's not making much as a 'classic' GP in a community largely populated with older (Medicare) patients, and he's having a hard time recruiting new doctors into his practice (this is in the Bay Area, where living costs are high).

t would seem to me, the way to make it big (financially) in the field is to become a specialist. As a 'neurologist' or 'cardiologist' or whatever, you can really rake it in.

As for the US system in general, my experience has been - awesome service as long as you have great insurance. Suddenly less attractive once your insurance is less generous. I'm 5 years away from Medicare and self-employed ... and I can only hope I don't need to use services between now and then ...

scrubbedexpat099

Apparently that was one of the many reasons they could not get a Doctor here, Medicare not too bad but too many on Medicaid which has a lower reimbursement rate.

spouse of scouse

Great post Steerpike. Stay healthy!

Giantaxe

Exactly the reason why there's such a shortage of primary care doctors.

Dizzyfinn

I originally hail from a small town in the UK which serves about 12000 local residents plus a similar amount from a nearby army base.

Recently I returned to the my home town to visit my elderly mother and had need to call her doctors surgery.

Within 2 hours of a non emergency situation her GP came to the house (in his 2 seater sports car). He performed a bunch of tests and consulted her medical records on his mobile phone. My wife who is a NP here in the US, found the whole thing amazing.

I could not remotely conceive of such a thing happening in the USA where I live in a similarly sized town. God bless the NHS.

scrubbedexpat091

Are house calls common in the UK? (curious is all, haven't any clue.)