how is being happy with an already reasonably high income “strange”?
Cynic:
Most Physicians go to school for something like 10-12 years including residency, after which they have over $100,000 in debts from various types of student loans. That’s before Physicians turn 30 or have a single day in practice.
Then, On top of the $250,000 more it costs to set oneself up in practice, there is the annual cost of Malpractice Insurance (over $200,000/yr. in the case of some specialties). And, We haven’t rented office space or hired an office staff yet, and, even though Physicians can share, those things still aren’t cheap.
The above gives an annual expenses of anywhere from $300,000 - $500,000, depending on specialty, before the Physician has even seen one patient! That means most of what they make, esp. when starting out, is eaten up paying expenses.
I don’t know what you know about HMO’s - They do their best to underpay Physicians and make it difficult for them to get the money they’ve earned.
From 1995-1996, the Otolaryngologist who performed my craniotomy (removed an acoustic tumor from my brain) performed several follow-up visits on me without receiving or requesting payment - He had left the HMO we had both been in but felt my care was too essential to leave my care to someone else. He wasn’t the only one - Another Otolaryngologist had left the HMO after the Acoustic Tumor was diagnosed but before the surgery, and the Otolaryngologist who performed the surgery did an extra procedure (reattaching my 7th cranial nerve) which the HMO never paid for.
Another gentleman I know was once the President of the American Assoc. of Physicians Assistants with the last 15 years of practice working with AIDS patients. He didn’t even own a car for most of the last few years - until his parish bought him one so he could visit the sick (He’s a priest in the ACA).
What “High Income”?! I just don’t see it. And, whatever most Physicians earn (except for maybe for plastic surgeons who cater to the rich) they more than deserve.
If you’re really worried about what we have to pay Doctors, Maybe you should should look at dealing with the unGodly debt they have to take on in order to become Doctors, and how Medical Schools effectively use them as “Slave Labor” during their Residency - What do you think would happen if Physicians didn’t have to worry about a crushing dept burden before starting practice, but were debt free? And, Then, maybe you should look at Tort Reform so competent Doctors don’t have to worry about Malpractice Suits arrising not from Malpractice, but from occasions where patients and families are disatisfied with the outcomes - What would happen if the Malpractice costs were cut by 2/3?
I know some doctors would still be “money hungry”, greedy you know whats, but I think you find that a lot of them got into the profession so they can help people…
I’d be far more worried about the multimillion dollar salaries paid to CEO’s and other executives whose only accomplishments often seem to be increasing the Stock Value of their corporations while laying the employees of those corporations off or moving their factories overseas where they can use non-living wage or slave & prison labor (China).
And, about a tax system which seems deliberately designed so that the top 1/2% of taxpayers pay a lower percentage in taxes than the next 10% of taxpayers. I know the Media concentrates on the top 1%, but the glitch in the Tax Code - SSA collection gives the break to the top 1/2%. The next 1/2% pay nearly 15% more in taxes than the top 1/2% because of that glitch in the combined Tax Code - SSA collected.
Your Brother in Christ, Michael
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