wife had a mole removed... $7,000+!!!!!!!!

[Ironworker]

The facts don't bear you out. Doctors earnings have been declining in real terms(adjusted for inflation) since the seventies. That's why you see more and more foreign Doctors.

And what is the source of this information. Sure there is more foreign doctor, but there are also more foreign engineers, it's a supply and demand thing, we need them, not to mention that they know that they will make a better living here.

 

[exSW]

And what is the source of this information. Sure there is more foreign doctor, but there are also more foreign engineers, it's a supply and demand thing, we need them, not to mention that they know that they will make a better living here.

They work cheaper. The hospitals pave the way for them. Have been for years. Same thing in Engineering. The companies don't want to pay native born and educated when foreign educated with NO student debt will take the position and suppress wages for the rest. The decline in Doctors earnings is well documented.
http://www.bestmedicaldegrees.com/salary-of-doctors/
http://www.jeffreymd.com/2007/12/08/physician-salaries-on-the-decline/

 

[Mastermind]

I've been self employed all my life, had my back broken twice, Lyme disease, etc. Always paid out of pocket, or made payments, worked out a deal with the hospital. I carried workmans comp, general liability, took care of my men and my business. I figured Obamacare would be great, I could finally get insurance. For 400.00 a month I can get a policy with a 5000.00 deductible, and a 50% copay. So, it's only good if I get hit by a *f-wording bus. If that happens, I can sign up then......in the mean time I'll keep paying as I go.

 

[KenJax Tree]

I guess im lucky to have a $25 copay for office visits and $10 for prescriptions....the rest gets paid.

 

[CR888]

I feel for you US members when I read posts like this. A managable health problem can conpletetly change the direction of your life and have massive consequences. Here down under if you get sick you go to the doctor with a health card (if you remenber to bring it) and get all the attention you need by good doctors and pay nothing...not a cent. No one abuses the system, practices are never over crowded and everyone gets the medical help they need. I cannot imagine a society with anything else, I have only ever known this and always lived here. What some of you guys go through would be sheer hell, and you go through it when the chips are down and your sick. I don't know the Obama care details but I hope one day Americans can get the health care they need regaurdless of their wealth, insurance etc. It is SO worth it to have a system that takes care of everyone, we are blessed to have it.

 

[Ironworker]

They work cheaper. The hospitals pave the way for them. Have been for years. Same thing in Engineering. The companies don't want to pay native born and educated when foreign educated with NO student debt will take the position and suppress wages for the rest. The decline in Doctors earnings is well documented.
http://www.bestmedicaldegrees.com/salary-of-doctors/
http://www.jeffreymd.com/2007/12/08/physician-salaries-on-the-decline/

I could only get on one site and it was written by a doctor so it's subjective. Read CR888's post, greed is killing us plain and simple, I know a few doctors, and none of them are starving.

 

[Firewood Bandit]

I get what you are saying......I really do. But......why should it cost tens of thousands of dollars for a few days of health care?

The system is broken.

I agree with you there.

Another issue is that those with insurance have absolutely no reason to reign in costs as long as the Insurance co. is paying the bill. People do not care what anything costs as long as someone else is paying for it and that of course bleeds over into Medicare and Medicaid. Eventually the day will come when a cost benefit analysis will have to be done, i.e. "death panels.

Here is a quote:

One out of every four Medicare dollars, more than $125 billion, is spent on services for the 5% of beneficiaries in their last year of life
http://time.com/money/2793643/cutting-the-high-cost-of-end-of-life-care/

For example a procedure that will costs say $100,000 for Grandma, the family will do it if Medicare and Medicaid pay for it. but if that came out of Grandma's estate, that would be another matter. The sad thing is often zero quality of life is the result and it is extremely expensive.

 

[exSW]

I could only get on one site and it was written by a doctor so it's subjective. Read CR888's post, greed is killing us plain and simple, I know a few doctors, and none of them are starving.

Hang on to those prejudices. The people who're screwing us into the ground are counting on it.

 

[Firewood Bandit]

Everyone blames everyone for high medical bills and come up with all kinds of reasons for high medical bills. It's not the insurance companies and it's not our politicians or our laws, it's greedy doctors taking advantage of a system, plain and simple.

If you don't think our laws and politicians who have been in office for decades each aren't part of the problem you are being very simplistic and a narrow view of the problem.

 

[Ironworker]

If you don't think our laws and politicians who have been in office for decades each aren't part of the problem you are being very simplistic and a narrow view of the problem.

I know what they're doing to us, it doesn't take much to figure out, but they don't make laws on how much a doctor charges. When my dad was dying we had his doctor come in his room, touch his stomach, ask how he feels and walks out, that five minutes was $150.

 

[Firewood Bandit]

I know what they're doing to us, it doesn't take much to figure out, but they don't make laws on how much a doctor charges. When my dad was dying we had his doctor come in his room, touch his stomach, ask how he feels and walks out, that five minutes was $150.

Doctor's do not have a wish list of what they want to charge. Fees are a product of the hospitals and total charges are a negotiated amount between the health care providers and the Insurance Co.. Because of this rates vary and people paying cash will get discounts if they negotiate and have the means to pay.

 

[Ironworker]

Doctor's do not have a wish list of what they want to charge. Fees are a product of the hospitals and total charges are a negotiated amount between the health care providers and the Insurance Co.. Because of this rates vary and people paying cash will get discounts if they negotiate and have the means to pay.

Hospitals are in it for profit too.

 

[Ironworker]

Healthcare is business.

 

[Mastermind]

We are so *f-worded....

 

[Agent Orange]

I'd rather go see my dog's vet. Get a lampshade, my nuts shaved, and a treat. All for about a hundred bucks.

 

[Mastermind]

I do get some meds from the vet.....

What?

Don't judge me.

 

[exSW]

I do get some meds from the vet.....

What?

Don't judge me.

You ain't the first. But I wouldn't know anything that.

 

[RCBS]

I recently switched to an HSA plan at work. I'm told that since I don't often use medical treatment, that this is better for me. I know my deductibles went up, but I'm also building tax free equity with my contributions.

Honestly...the only two solid things I know about medical care and insurance is that they are too expensive and to not use it unless dying. Yes, I have insurance and yes I'm scared to use it....isn't that just dandy?

I was literally dumbfounded in 2002 when my Mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after I saw the final tally of her treatment, which failed no less. Just shy of 1/2 million dollars for treatments and 3 weeks in the hospital. Towards the end, which came within 7 weeks of diagnosis, she was prescribed a shot that was to be taken twice daily for $175 a pop. We had to beg for assistance from the charity at the hospital for that stuff. While admitted they were charging $23 each for Lactade pills so she could have an ice cream cone after trying to eat dinner. I don't blame them for her death. Diagnosis was late and motality rate high. But I do have some ill feelings about what an obviously terminal patient was put through and charged.

I don't know bad enough cuss words to describe how I feel about Healthcare in the US. Services here are basically the most expensive in the world, yet the actual care we receive for our dollars does not correlate.

 

[Duce]

I know what they're doing to us, it doesn't take much to figure out, but they don't make laws on how much a doctor charges. When my dad was dying we had his doctor come in his room, touch his stomach, ask how he feels and walks out, that five minutes was $150.

I believe healthcare is out of control and is a BIG business. You must also look at our legal system as a BIG part of this discussion. A factory worker dies on the operating table undergoing heart surgery and family sues for 10 million and wins. He would never have made that in his lifetime. You can buy drugs from foreign countries for 1/10 the cost, why, cost of law suits. They ship them the wrong drug and person is injured, you can sue no one, it's illegal to buy outside the US, that's why cost is 1/10. Just turn on the TV, have you or a love one been injured by an IV filter. I have had one for 10 years because of a clotting disorder, if it kills me, should my wife receive 5 million dollars, no way.

 

[Guido Salvage]

In addition to working at Blue Cross, I was previously the Collection Manager at a 1000 bed public teaching hospital. It is a fallicy that all hospitals are getting rich, in fact many community facilities are closing or being sold to other facilities. Part of it is location and demographics, if you are serving a poor community where people are uninsured or underinsured you will have a hard time making ends meet.

While a hospital bill may say a procedure costs $10,000, look at what they are actually reimbursed. Hospitals competing for a very limited patient pool for new and expensive tests and procedures are a major cost driver. No one wants to be left behind in the technology race.