For all those who think doc's are super rich!

[lovbyts]

Yup, rich to me means titles in hand, not at the bank, debt free and able to enjoy life. You are not rich if you work 80hr a week, that is poor in my books. The more you enjoy life the richer you are.

[JohnnyVegas]

Yup, rich to me means titles in hand, not at the bank, debt free and able to enjoy life. You are not rich if you work 80hr a week, that is poor in my books. The more you enjoy life the richer you are.

Agree that rich means owning. The two docs I really know are those kinds of guys. They both love what they do, so they work a lot of hours because that is what the industry demands. One is an anesthesiologist and one actually runs the ER at a hospital in WA. The other doctors I know seem to be living well, but could be up to their armpits in debt, I have no idea.

If your definition of "rich" is "doesn't need to work" then these guys don't qualify. They still depend on their incomes. One of them was thinking about retiring, but his retirement investments were cut in half when the stock marketing and real estate markets took a big dump. That was a big bummer.

[thegodfather]

Moral of the story is, get a good Step 1 score, and match into the right specialty. Also, avoid all primary care specialties like the fu**ing plague. And whoever mentioned a 'surgeon' only making $200,000 a year, he must be a pretty shitty surgeon, because gen surg without subspecialty in the NE is making at least $325k, anything sub spec is in the 400k+ range.

All of this aside, doctors in the primary care specialties are being squeezed the hardest. Medicare/Medicaid cut reimbursements further and further, this is creating a situation where doctors have opted out of EMTALA all together, and those patients on Medicare/Medicaid cant find a doctor who is even taking these patients. Additionally, the LOW reimbursements that some group of government dipshits get together and decide a doctors time for a routine checkup is only worth $28 dollars (and 45 minutes worth of paperwork in order to get paid for that one patient) causes other health insurers to lower their reimbursements, afterall, why should Bluecross pay that same doctor $75 for a routine checkup when Medicare/Medicaid is paying them $28? This is called artifically manipulating the market. Laws which forbid healthcare practioners from advertising their fees for service prevent free market competition. The free market is not failing healthcare, government intervention is destroying healthcare with a bulldozer.

[Lemonada8]

Moral of the story is, get a good Step 1 score, and match into the right specialty. Also, avoid all primary care specialties like the fu**ing plague. And whoever mentioned a 'surgeon' only making $200,000 a year, he must be a pretty shitty surgeon, because gen surg without subspecialty in the NE is making at least $325k, anything sub spec is in the 400k+ range.

All of this aside, doctors in the primary care specialties are being squeezed the hardest. Medicare/Medicaid cut reimbursements further and further, this is creating a situation where doctors have opted out of EMTALA all together, and those patients on Medicare/Medicaid cant find a doctor who is even taking these patients. Additionally, the LOW reimbursements that some group of government dipshits get together and decide a doctors time for a routine checkup is only worth $28 dollars (and 45 minutes worth of paperwork in order to get paid for that one patient) causes other health insurers to lower their reimbursements, afterall, why should Bluecross pay that same doctor $75 for a routine checkup when Medicare/Medicaid is paying them $28? This is called artifically manipulating the market. Laws which forbid healthcare practioners from advertising their fees for service prevent free market competition. The free market is not failing healthcare, government intervention is destroying healthcare with a bulldozer.

exactly, thats partly a reason why hospitals are getting soooo huge nowadays. Healthcare is turning into a damn corporation, and at what cost?

Dentists were smart and stayed out of the whole insurance thing, and look at where they are now.. they can do pretty much w/e they want to.

[thegodfather]

exactly, thats partly a reason why hospitals are getting soooo huge nowadays. Healthcare is turning into a damn corporation, and at what cost?

Dentists were smart and stayed out of the whole insurance thing, and look at where they are now.. they can do pretty much w/e they want to.

Dentristy is a far different animal bro. It's within the realm of possibility to pay cash for services rendered, the majority of people can afford $75-$100 cleanings, and $200-$300 fillings. Most people cannot afford $250,000 for an Anterior Cervical Dissection and Fusion of a herniated C3. But this brings up yet ANOTHER problem with healthcare and modern day health insurance. People think of health insurance as some sort of free service, that covers everything under the sun, this is one factor driving healthcare costs through the roof. Health insurance, if it were treated like all other insurances, would in reality be very affordable to 90% of Americans. Insurance is typically reserved for catostrohic instances. When you car crashes, insurance covers it, when your house burns down, insurance replaces it. When your car requires a tune up and oil change, insurance doesn't cover it, when your house needs to be cleaned, or your water heater breaks, homeowners doesn't cover it. If we treated health insurance this way, we would only cover catastrophic health events, heart attacks, spinal fusions, traumas, etc, and so on. We would not use health insurance to cover every runny nose and cold. The problem with making doctors visits $5, is that there is no incentive NOT to see the doctor as often as possible. When a person percieves a service as 'almost free,' they use it with no degree of frugalness in mind, and this inevitably drives up costs for everyone else.

We also need to mention that general practice Dentists are not required to do residencies, and those that are, are typically very short in the 1-3 year range, for things such as Orthodontics, with the majority of Dentists going right from Dental school and directly into paid practice. This is an extra 4-7 years where they are earning income, instead of deferring loans and accruing interest. The only exception to this of course is OMFS residency&fellowship (Oral Maxillo Facial Surgeon), which is obviously much closer to medicine than dentristry, but which requires a DMD/DDS. I actually also have two friends doing Podiatry residencies, the longest of which is 36 months, which allows them to do rear foot reconstructive surgery, as opposed to 24 month residencies which allow for only front foot surgery. I think that profession has actually come along way, with the integration of DPM's into some Ortho practices, and rear foot surgeons earning as much as $200,000/year.

[gixxerboy1]

Moral of the story is, get a good Step 1 score, and match into the right specialty. Also, avoid all primary care specialties like the fu**ing plague. And whoever mentioned a 'surgeon' only making $200,000 a year, he must be a pretty shitty surgeon, because gen surg without subspecialty in the NE is making at least $325k, anything sub spec is in the 400k+ range.

All of this aside, doctors in the primary care specialties are being squeezed the hardest. Medicare/Medicaid cut reimbursements further and further, this is creating a situation where doctors have opted out of EMTALA all together, and those patients on Medicare/Medicaid cant find a doctor who is even taking these patients. Additionally, the LOW reimbursements that some group of government dipshits get together and decide a doctors time for a routine checkup is only worth $28 dollars (and 45 minutes worth of paperwork in order to get paid for that one patient) causes other health insurers to lower their reimbursements, afterall, why should Bluecross pay that same doctor $75 for a routine checkup when Medicare/Medicaid is paying them $28? This is called artifically manipulating the market. Laws which forbid healthcare practioners from advertising their fees for service prevent free market competition. The free market is not failing healthcare, government intervention is destroying healthcare with a bulldozer.

I never understood that. What is the reasoning behind that law?