Don't worry, the Wal-Mart Hospital is coming to a neighborhood near you. Free trade in doctors is the next big government agenda. The avarice on Wall Street was it's demise and will be for US doctors as well.
Such a fuss for a proposed reform that has nothing earth shattering in it, it's just about reducing costs and allowing everyone to afford a healthcare plan. You would have to be completely disingenious and selfish (thinking about your taxes) to find anything wrong with that objective. Doctors and pharma will still be able to make plenty of money off of people's sufferings. They remain sellers of hope and you always make money selling hope.
The majority of GP's income is not from the above issues, but ancillary conditions and diagnostic tests. The US medical system is the only Ponzi scheme larger than wall st.
and you can bet that private corps and government are already laying the groundwork that will level the playing field and ultimately sellout the greedy American doctors as they have with science and auto industries. Greed and Laziness will ruin any good thing in due time.
I blame the republicans for putting up someone like Bush Jr up as president and then putting up someone like McCain/Palin ticket up. I do not like this big government crap but Our mistake and until the GOP decides to fix the problem we will be stuck with this shit. (those with the voting card that has Republican on it) Was putting a dimwit for president (Bush Jr who had no place running for election) and then sticking some white trash alaskan as VP and someone who should be retired as prez. Romney would have been the right candidate.
I agree with you - until the government forces cash payers to pay 3X medicare and/or makes cash paying patients illegal.
There are hospitals here who will "send patients elsewhere" if they don't have private insurance. They can't refuse ER care (which might end up unpaid), but they can limit their exposure to big expenses from indigent patients by intentionally not having a Level 1 Trauma Center... and they do exactly that.
What? So it's the doctor's fault that patients eat junk food all day and never scrape themselves off the couch? First of all, no doctor is paid anywhere near that much. Second, if the doctor doesn't offer the patient the treatment, he may be sued for malpractice. Third, oncologists have a lot of specialized knowledge - knowledge which cost them 100 hour residencies which followed $100,000 school loans to acquire. If the doctor can't make enough money to pay off his school loans and make the years of hardship and sacrifice translate into a living standard that makes it all worthwhile, they won't become oncologists and you'll all just croak from cancer. Why is it the American middle class thinks it has the right to live like kings on other people's dimes? And that would be? You can't do this basic math and you're on a trading forum? No wonder so many of you are shit traders. How long does your dog live? How long do you live? You do realize that long term interest rates are higher because more can go wrong over a longer period of time, yeah? You are right about one thing - 90% of all of your lifetime healthcare expenditure occurs at the very end of your life. And guess what? As the patient, you can refuse that care. The doctor will be sued if he refuses to treat you. Take some responsibility for your sorry self and stop blaming everyone else for your french fry, television habit and insulin habit.