Dear Mr. President and the dems that I have supported ...

[busymom]

since I could vote.

I have always believed in the ideals of the democratic party and though I sometimes needed a little push to get behind the candidate when mine didn't come out on top, I always did. I have volunteered for our party, donated money and have been very vocal locally about my support for public health care and pulling out of the war.

Actually, I'd like to share a little more about me with you. I am a sahm. For many years, I did this with great sacrifice. While my husband was a medical student, resident and fellow, we drove one car, and lived in a rental unit that was broken into multiple times. We made the choice to forego *things* so that I could be home with our kids. It was a hard choice, but we have never regretted it.

As you know, most medical students now graduate with an average of $150,000 in debt for the honor of their hard work and the many years of training that they endure. They move on to residency and earn training salaries. Due to the nature of the medical training process, most physicians in training work ~100 hours/week. This isn't something that they choose. It is the only way to become a doctor in America. It would be great if training pay could be slightly increased, work hours could go down and they could just add more time on to training to be able to teach physicians all that they need to know, but as I am sure you know, changes in student loan rates and repayment deadlines have made this an impossibility.

My husband is a specialist who has been out-of-training for 8 years. He works ~60 hours/week but that is his own fault partly. He feels such a strong commitment to his patients that he admits them himself and goes in at all hours if they are brought into the ER...even when he can't bill a penny for it. He earns an average income for his specialty. We live in a home that is in the average price range for our area...not more. We both drive used vehicles...
mine is paid off and is over 10 years old. I will be driving that baby until the wheels fall off!!!

I can not AFFORD to stimulate the economy by going out and getting another vehicle right now. We considered it briefly when the cash for clunkers program came around, but my van did not qualify!

Now, while everyone has been debating the public option and the difference between the House and Senate health care bills, my fellow dems have gone in through the back door and have abolished all consultation codes for specialists. They have dropped reimbursement for x-rays,echoes, scans, specialist consultations and anything that wasn't nailed down that they could get their hands on. As a result, we will see a 20-30% income drop. Did I mention our $150,000 in student loans? Thanks for taking care of those pesky loans so that physicians can afford to earn less.

Wait? You didn't. So...we still have to pay more than our mortgage payment to the governement that is demanding the same (if not more) work for less money? Well, at least we can forget about those very expensive malpractice insurance payments because of course now that tort reform has been enacted. What? Whoa...you mean...there isn't a 20-30% income reduction for trial attorneys on what they can take to court...and we STILL have to pay HOW MUCH for malpractice insurance?

So here is the consequence people. Yah, yah...spare me the whole doctors should work for free routine unless you are going to abolish all student loans and malpractice insurance....

After less than 2 WEEKS of the new coding (and with private insurers now likely to follow medicare/medicaid next year), our large outreach hospital here has announced that not only will docs be earning less, BUT of course the hospital system can now no longer AFFORD to keep the free clinic open that it has had OPEN since it became a hospital! This is a CATHOLIC hospital for God's sake!!! Yes, they will be closing their free clinic at the end of this year AND because the surplus in money is what funds the always in the red in-patient psychiatric facilities, they will be closing the inpatient beds within this year.

We have the largest number of inpatient psych beds in the state.

Forget the new PET scanner.

Holy Sheep Shit...

Health care is not free...and doctors do not see all of the money that is billed. It goes to pay for outreach clinics and programs, and departments that never make a profit at all.

The next time you go to the doctor, ask yourself what this man/woman's time, education and expertise is worth to you. When my husband does an inpatient consult on a critically ill patient it can take up to an hour and a half. Only a h allalf an hour might be patient contact hours, but he has to review all charts and previously ordered tests, order new ones and then interpret the results of those. He is called when no one else knows what to do and he added several years of 100+ hours/week training for barely minimum wage for the honor. He scored in the 95th percentile on his boards...if you are sick, you want him on your side...or...maybe you don't.

[Craftsman]

1. Amen.

[shireen]

2. great post!

and i like your husband, he sounds like a wonderful doc. :hi:

[busymom]

3. Thank you. I truly belive that he is. n/t

[flyarm]

4. double amen!! And thank you and your husband for your sacrifice! eom

[jgraz]

5. Why not abolish student loans and malpractice insurance?

Not that physicians should work for free, but this entire system seems completely backwards. Insane tuition bills, paid for by insane healthcare bills, are effectively a regressive "use tax" on things that, in any other civilized society, would be viewed as a human right: health care and education.

[Oregone]

6. Thats why governments with universal healthcare offer free cardboard boxes for doctor housing

Since, ya know, people can't make a living with lower rates. Every doctor I know in my province has to park their BMW in the alleyway housing their box

[busymom]

9. lucky them! Where is MY BMW? ;) nt.

[shawcomm]

7. Just a side rant

it should be illegal for pharmaceutical companies to give kickbacks to doctors for pushing their drugs. Every time we went to the doctor, back when we could afford it, the majority of people seeing and visiting the doctor were drug company reps. Three or four times we waited, and when we finally got in (and this was with an appointment) there was a big pharma rep leaving. The doc would always try to push the name brand stuff on us, and argued that the generics weren't as good.

[busymom]

8. I agree 100%

...and it is now illegal for drug companies to take docs out to dinner, give them monetary gifts, etc. At my husband's clinic, a drug rep has to make an appointment to be seen...but my dh hasn't been visited by one since he was asked to give a talk for one of the companies and then advised his colleagues that a cheaper, older brand was better.

Sometimes, for some drugs, generics aren't as good though.