88k?

[mcgmaniac]

a doctor recently told a friend of mine that anyone currently going to med school would be insane and that when healthcare goes nationalized the average physician salary will be 88k a year.. I know this sounds unlikely and like the bitching of a bitter man..but i need someone to relieve my palpitations..what do you guys think of this statement

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[Thespian666]

He's probably right and as soon as healthcare gets nationalized in 2036 we should start worrying.

 

[artaxerxes]

vote McCain! the best thing could do really....

btw, I'd only be 50 in 2036!!!

 

[Thespian666]

Haha. Well I'll be 50 in 2036 too...in dog years.

And so will McCain, which is why I'm not going to vote for him; That and I'm a damned Lily-livered Trader Joe's-shopping Pinko-liberal.

As much as I like socialized medicine, I just don't think it's going to happen here; Maybe around the time we adopt the metric system. Thus, I believe the OP's fears are unneccessary.

 

[HMSBeagle]

Hi. I think it will be a long time before we see any system like the european countries if that is what you fear. Insurance companies are too powerful to let it happen. Although reimbursements may still decrease more doctors will still be in the top earners if that is one of your worries. Relax and lets see what happens (hint: it wont be universal healthcare). You also have to see that in the early 1990s when we were in an economic downturn like nowadays there was a lot of talk about universal healthcare and look what happened to those efforts. Also read the proposals for healthcare of the presidential candidates. No proposal is such like the one of 1994.

 

[muscles]

i'm not sure where the number 88K came from but I agree with the premise. With a congress that is going left-ward, and if the executive branch goes democratic this fall, I really do think there will be a significant change in the health care system. I know they don't have government-run plans, the current insurance companies will still be in place, but if everyone is required to have insurance, the only way it will be affordable will be to lower reimbursement rates, so over time physician income will decline.

 

[NonTradMed]

People in the US are used to having a certain level of care and expectations. I've seen data which indicates that most people are happy with the quality of care, it's the cost they don't like. Hence, any changes will not compromise the quality of healthcare that people feel they should get. This means a one payer system, or a one encompassing government system will probably not get implemented.

The system will mostly likely turn into a two tiered or a multi-tiered system where the government provides some care for everyone (bottome tier), and most people buy insurance to get better health care and access to care. This may mean some doctors end up earning little, but even in England, which has a national healthcare system and a two tiered system, the doctors are not starving.

Also, I've noticed a trend in multiple states where those who enter the least paying fields---primary care in underserved areas---have their tuition waived. I think that's what we will see happen. As places face shortages of the lowest earning doctors, those positions will be offered in exhange for deb forgiveness.

 

[yohimbine1]

i'm not sure where the number 88K came from

hehe...precisely 88k

I think these fears have been swirling for years. I don't think anyone can say for certain what the future will hold.

 

[SirAsksAlot]

I've got a question. If healthcare gets nationalized will the salaries of all occupations in the healthcare suffer or just the physicians'?

I.E will physician assistants and nurses still make as much as they do now?

What are their salaries expected to be?

Thanks!

 

[Thantis]

The US is not ready for a full onset universal healthcare system. We are highly specialist heavy (which has its pros and cons), but as it is, more focus should be put on primary care.

My suggestion has always been to have a universal system that is comprised of preventative/primary care only. The results to be seen from the implementation of such a system are more long-term in scope, but it is clearly beneficial to all. We should also provide more incentives for students to enter the primary care fields.

Specialist care and catastrophic care coverage will have to be paid for by the healthcare consumer through insurance coverage. As to how we go about ensuring public participation to such a system, I won't go in-depth to that due to many conflicting views by economists, public health experts and healthcare providers.

I see no need for physician reimbursement rates to suffer as a result of the primary universal system I mentioned. If primary care physicians can group together into a collective & highly organized body, they can then better negotiate reimbursement rates from a one-payor system.

In all honesty, this is only one issue facing the hydra that physicians have to battle against. But, my policy is to progress step-by-step...it is one of the best ways to ensure positive advancement for the profession.

Narf!