You always hear that health care is a good field to go into. And it may be so.

[raccoon]

Except sometimes I wonder. IME, fewer and fewer Americans have health care coverage. I expect the situation will only get worse as premiums continue to rise and employers eliminate health care coverage for their employees.

Well, it just seems that as fewer people have coverage, fewer will get recommended tests/procedures done (BTDT myself), not to mention get medical attention for other conditions that pop up.

IOW, less dollars available to pay for health care. Your thoughts?

[somone]

1. It's demographics

More people are getting older and requiring more care, hence the demand for more warm bodies to service them.

[SheilaT]

2. The truth remains that many people actually

still do have health care coverage, even if it is inadequate. And there's Medicare and Medicaid.

There's a genuine shortage of nurses in this country. I work in a hospital and the turnover is constant and ongoing in every single department. It is not that hard to get an entry-level position of some kind in a hospital, even without specialized training. A course in medical terminology opens some more doors. There's lots of billing to be done, lots of lab work, and my hospital trains the entry-level lab people. Community colleges offer lots of coursework in all kinds of medical fields. Radiology is another area with lots of openings, but you need some kind of a degree there, for the most part.

Not everyone wants to work in a hospital, but they are not going to shut down and disappear, not any time before the Apocalypse.

[old mark]

3. Nursing is a tough, demanding job and there is a high burnout level...

It is really many-faceted, many different specialties and applications and a well educated smart nurse can make a good living and be in demand...but they are still underpaid, IMO.


mark

[XanaDUer]

4. At my former hospital job

in GA - they just laid off a bunch of RNs. Not sure if they were all BSN nurses, or RN-certificate nurses. Some had MSN degrees, too, and were probably viewed as earning too much money.

Coding and other clerical-type jobs - tumor registries, etc - the newish CEO, CMO, COO, and the other white dudes with the acronyms after their names who make six-figures - the latest is "outsourcing". Bring in Marriott or some other company for "environmental services" (janitorial), cafeteria and other "nutritional services" bring in Morrison's cafeteria... bring in a coding company, call all the 25+, mostly-female workers in said dept out, tell them that there are about 10 jobs working for the new coding company, and tell them that, if they're lucky, less than half of the 25 may get a job with the new company. Less salary, no more pension, of course, and reduced "benefits" through the new company. Then see all the women out in the hallway, crying, due to this decision. Some of them had worked for the hospital for more than twenty years. But, it's all about the new, lean, mean, do-more-with-less hospital model someone read about in a hospital management journal.

No, I would not say healthcare is a recession-proof career. After 5+ years at a hospital, seeing all of this, I don't ever want to work in healthcare again.