I'm troubled by how many people out there believe doctors are "all about the money." I think we've been unfairly targeted lately because people who don't understand the healthcare crisis need someone to blame. Ignorant and naive citizens think that the reason why cost of medicines and procedures is dictated by doctors. They are extremely wrong.
For those that find the urge to blame their doctor for high costs of a procedure or visit should think twice. The rates for procedures and visits is predetermined by Medicare and Insurance companies. If you have a problem with it, you should complain to your insurance company. Secondly, the skill and training involved to perform these procedures are not something to discount. The US medical training system has so many checks and balances that we produce some of the best doctors in the world. We go to school for 4 years, do at least 3 years of Residency training, take 3 National Boards, and 1-2 Specialty Board exams. And afterwards we need to renew our licenses every year. No other field requires that much vetting and regulation. And once we are practicing we're told that we are greedy? There are plenty of other jobs out there that require less schooling, less training, and they get compensated in a greater proportion to skill.
Now I admit there are some doctors out there that are not exemplary members of the field. Ideally, they are weeded out somewhere along the process, but they can slip through. But to generalize and assume all doctors are greedy is incorrect and sad. I hope to change this view as Americans grow even more cynical these days. I think it's important that we step back and realize it's not black and white and the issue with medicine is not that doctors are getting paid too much. It's that the demand is high and the supply is low. And the snowball of privatized insurance is what it is. If you don't like having to fight your insurance company to help pay for something, maybe you should take it up with the insurance company. Not us. We have enough to worry about given that we could be sued by any patient that walks through the door.
For those that find the urge to blame their doctor for high costs of a procedure or visit should think twice. The rates for procedures and visits is predetermined by Medicare and Insurance companies. If you have a problem with it, you should complain to your insurance company. Secondly, the skill and training involved to perform these procedures are not something to discount. The US medical training system has so many checks and balances that we produce some of the best doctors in the world. We go to school for 4 years, do at least 3 years of Residency training, take 3 National Boards, and 1-2 Specialty Board exams. And afterwards we need to renew our licenses every year. No other field requires that much vetting and regulation. And once we are practicing we're told that we are greedy? There are plenty of other jobs out there that require less schooling, less training, and they get compensated in a greater proportion to skill.
Now I admit there are some doctors out there that are not exemplary members of the field. Ideally, they are weeded out somewhere along the process, but they can slip through. But to generalize and assume all doctors are greedy is incorrect and sad. I hope to change this view as Americans grow even more cynical these days. I think it's important that we step back and realize it's not black and white and the issue with medicine is not that doctors are getting paid too much. It's that the demand is high and the supply is low. And the snowball of privatized insurance is what it is. If you don't like having to fight your insurance company to help pay for something, maybe you should take it up with the insurance company. Not us. We have enough to worry about given that we could be sued by any patient that walks through the door.