I can complain about someone making $1,500.
That doesn't mean I want anything done about it.
The problem is when liberals and conservatives and statists complain and then want their complaint about something made into law.
I may complain about how much someone is paid but I don't want it made into some kind of law.
If someone makes $1,500.00 an hour, then so be it. Just don't complain when you only the rich can afford health care.
How are people who make $10 an hour or $20 an hour or $30 an hours supposed to afford health care when they are having to pay the doctor $1,500 per hour.
A person making $10.00 an hour has to work 150 hours to pay for one hour with such a doctor.
Physicians' fees seem steep until you realize that they must cover increasing practice expenses, especially staff payroll and medical malpractice insurance. For example, in Florida a solo surgical practice could require between $400,000 and $500,000 income just to meet expenses. More staff is required to stay on top of the increasing complexities of insurance. But while expenses increase, reimbursement from insurance has significantly decreased. What that creates is stressed physicians trying to see more patients to meet those demands. It means less time for individual patients, a weakening of the physician-patient relationship, an environment more conducive to mistakes, and demoralized physicians and patients.
Why do physicians charge so much? Why should I as a patient even care about their financial well-being, especially when I see what they bill me or my insurance?
There is more to the picture of physician charges than meets the eye. As you will see, what they are paid, by patients and by insurance, impacts the quality of our healthcare. . . not because they are greedy, but because today it takes so much more to keep their practices open -- and because there are issues of ethical relationship with insurance companies, physicians and patients.
From the article: "A Medicare patient who chooses to stay at Mayo’s Glendale clinic will pay about $1,500 a year for an annual physical and three other doctor visits".
How much time would three visits plus a physical entail?
By the way, 1/10 of that amount would still be $150/hour.
How many of their patients make $150/hour?
Or even $30/hour?
Or even $20/hour?
So 1500 is a yearly cost not an hourly cost. And you need to remember the overhead doctors pay out. Their very own services are not free to them either.
I know.
The current trend is not sustainable.
If we don't turn the health care back to the free market system with a plan similar to this - www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa650.pdf - then eventually only the elite will be able to afford health care whether one has insurance or not.