I Hate To Get Into Politics, But...

[Kung Wu]

I have a great deal if respect for independent business owners who work hard and play by the rules. I may not always agree with them, but I don't have their entrepreneurial spirit, either. What I don't respect is anyone who seems to think that Paris Hilton and her clan are entitled to their money while you continue to advocate policies on their behalf that benefit them while sucking me dry.

What did Paris Hilton do besides inherit a bunch of money and star in reality TV? She never had an original idea, met a payroll or invented anything .

She's waaaaay better looking than you.

[Play Angry]

Sounds to me like he should have gone to college, or at least studied in high school. He would have then known that spending 20k more could have saved him 50k.

The principle of your argument is right but math is no bueno.

Deduction =/= credit.

[MoValley John]

It isn't dollar for dollar anyway. The deduction simply reduces your AGI, so if he donated $50,000 and his top bracket was 39.6%, he would get a tax break of $30,200. He would have saved a whopping $200 by giving an additional 30 grand.

[vtshocker]

Dr wu.....

I see you're getting butthurt because you don't want your standard of living lowered. Typical response from a doctor....,by the, where were you when the rest of us were watching our standard of living erode away slowly. Yup, it's only a bad thing when your pocket gets picked. Not so much for the other guy.

If you haven't noticed lately, the entire standard of living for this country has been going down the last 20 years. It's just catching up to the medical community now.

Canada's middle class has already passed us, Europe, specifically Belgium, but also Germany, are poised to pass us.

Maybe you should have learned more in your history classes about great civilizations that went downhill after the middle class was systematically killed off.......

Typical response from someone who knows nothing about the medical profession. We are so overpaid right? lets ignore the fact that we busted our ass in college and throughout our 20s to enter this profession. We don't finish training until we are in our 30s and go about 200,000 in debt. Constantly on call to care for our patients at all hours of the day and always there to answer all of your questions. Luckily most of people that we see are appreciative of what we do but there is always the occasional idiot we encounter.

[Rlh04d]

Typical response from someone who knows nothing about the medical profession. We are so overpaid right? lets ignore the fact that we busted our ass in college and throughout our 20s to enter this profession. We don't finish training until we are in our 30s and go about 200,000 in debt. Constantly on call to care for our patients at all hours of the day and always there to answer all of your questions. Luckily most of people that we see are appreciative of what we do but there is always the occasional idiot we encounter.

I'd never begrudge doctors a penny of what they're paid. It's a demanding profession with significant up-front expenses. Medical professionals, by and large, absolutely deserve their income.

What bugs me is how much everything ELSE costs. There is so much gouging across the board in the medical industry. My mom fell off a chair in Wichita a few years back, right after getting divorced and having a gap in insurance. Broke her elbow and wrist. Took an ambulance ride, got a few X-Rays, had a few follow up appointments. $45,000. A relatively minor injury, ten minutes in an ambulance, and a couple hours in an hospital is equivalent to an average annual income in the US? There is no logical financial assessment that equates that charge with the actual costs incurred.

That's what really gets me about the entire medical industry. We have the inefficiency of government involvement, the unfairness of no government involvement, we all know it's unfair, and no one can come up with a simple solution where costs are a fair representation of salaries of necessary personnel + use of necessary equipment + depreciation of necessary equipment. Or where people can be taken care of in their later years, when they are a risk of mounting medical costs, by the money they spent in their earlier years, where they rarely used medical services.

[MoValley John]

There are far too many problems with healthcare to even begin to sort it out. I have touched on a few in other healthcare threads, but the whole issue is so complex that, just like this thread, it is simpler and more convenient for dems to blame repubs and repubs to blame dems, and the real issues never get addressed.

As I have said in other threads, my wife has over 20 yes as an er nurse in trauma centers. Through that, I have become good friends with countless docs and nurses. None of them, nor do I, believe that healthcare shouldn't be changed. The funny thing is that nobody is listening.to them. The talking points and policy are being directed and led by the trial lawyers on the left and the insurance lobby on the right. And if you really look at Obamacare, that is exactly what was drafted, a bill with zero tort reform that will ensure that afternoon and late night tv is fully funded with class action lawsuit commercials, and a system that also mandates people buy healthcare coverage from the companies that fund the insurancelobby.

We get what we deserve.

[shocka khan]

IMO, doctors are part of our healthcare problem.

I love my doc. He knows what I want and he has high ethical standards. He is attentive to my needs and listens to me.

However, I have the following criticism of some doctors in general and the medical system. in particular:

The AMA is too cluby and their ethics are horrible. The limit more access to medical care be keeping the supply of doctors low. They lobby against having greater access to physicians assistants. We ought to have a choice as to when when we need a VW and when we need a Mercedes Benz.

Another criticism has to do with honarariums, seminars and awards given to docs to push their big pharmas goods. My doctor gives me generics. My doctor knows this and he doesn't do this, but I have seen other docs prescribe expensive drugs because they get something of value from big pharma. I know its prevalent.

And last, but not least, medical boards. Doctors don-t like to complain about their peers. Instead of openly and objectively dealing with bad docs, they let them sign oaths and decrees that do little except make it someone else's problem by effectively ending their ability to practice in tthat jurisdiction, only to have them move somewhere else, go back into practice and do exactly the same thing.

[MoValley John]

IMO, doctors are part of our healthcare problem.

I love mysc. He knows what I want and he has high ethical standards. He is attentive to my needs and listens to me.

However, I have the following criticism of some doctors in general and the medical system. in particular:

The AMA is too cluby and their ethics are horrible. The limit more access to medical care be keeping the supply of doctors low. They lobby against having greater access to physicians assistants. We ought to have a choice as to when when we need a VW and when we need a Mercedes Benz.

Another criticism has to do with honarariums, seminars and awards given to docs to push their big pharmas goods. My doctor gives me generics. My doctor knows this and he doesn't do this, but I have seen other docs prescribe expensive drugs because they get something of value from big pharma. I know its prevalent.

And last, but not least, medical boards. Doctors don-t like to complain about their peers. Instead of openly and objectively dealing with bad docs, they let them sign oaths and decrees that do little except make it someone else's problem by effectively ending their ability to practice in tthat jurisdiction, only to have them move somewhere else, go back into practice and do exactly the same thing.

Wow. I know there are egotistical and dishonest docs. In fact, most disc have egos the size of Mount Everest, but as for dishonest, there are very few.The big pharma comments were so off base I don't know where to start. I will say, I laws enacted have made it very difficult for docs to profit off of big pharma. In fact, unless the doc specifically writes a script NPS (No Product Selection) you as the patient can demand generic, and in fact, most pharmacies will ask if you want the generic equivalent if available. The old days of phamacuticals buying off docs is long, long over.

The only real avenue big pharma to get in bed with docs is with 1. free samples and 2. trips to an occasional "seminar". With that docs are not much in bed with big pharma, there is little benefit.

Where big pharma wins, is in free samples. The doc does YOU a favor by prescribing a drug to you and starting YOU with a free sample. You, in turn like your doc because he gave you something for nothing, so you stick with your doc. Big pharma wins because given the choice for generic, you choose the "better" brand name, which in reality is usually the same.

The rest of your drivel would take hours, but rest assured, hospitals used to staff 4 docs to every nurse. It is now over 8/1 and growing, as is the standard use of PA's and nurse practicioners.

And bad docs fear good docs reporting them. The medical profession does a better job self policing than most and certainly better than lawyers. You should be able to check online for actions taken against medical proffessionals by your state licensing board. Docs do a good but not perfect job of keeping the ranks clean.
But keep spewing your crap, it was an enjoyable read.

[MoValley John]

Just to help out, here is the discipline and accountability of docs :in KS over the last month. All of this is readibly available and should go a way to demonstrate that the medical profession does in fact police itself.

http://www.ksbha.org/boardactions/boardactions.shtml