DEAR EDITOR:
I am sad to see so many doctors, some I know, sign that paid advertisement in the paper on "The Risks and Perils of Obama Care". The most distressing part is the fact that they are complaining about their pay of $150,000 a year as an intern at a hospital. That is nearly four times as much as the 90 percent of the people they will most likely treat.
They also talk about even though established Doctors make "north of $1million" as if that is what the intern should make. Socialized medicine is the ONLY WAY to fix our country's health care system. We may have the best medical treatments, medicine and doctors in the world but that does not make for the best medical system to have those services delivered to the people who need it.
The doctors talk about how nine out of 10 dissuade their children from entering the field. That is because of "the profit motive." These doctors care more about their financial portfolio than they do about their patients. That has been the trend over the years. People got into medicine for all the wrong reasons and it has finally now come home to roost. There are still a few, very few, doctors who are into medicine for the right motivation, to help and heal people. The Hippocratic Oath that all doctors I believe are supposed to take is just a suggestion these days. There can still be that doctor patient relationship the letter speaks of in socialized medicine. An example would be to have doctors who want to just have a General Practice to be paid a salary of say $300,000 a year and all of the office expenses and help they have would be paid by the government as well. Doctors would have to have a minimum of patients to accept and that number could be negotiated by what is considered average or acceptable for quality care. I'm guessing around 300 patients per doctor. The doctor would not be interfered with in this practice unless problems and complaints became a problem. The point is, there could be a lot of benefits for doctors in government run socialized medical care as well as patients. The only concern I've ever seen from the medical establishment is one whereby they feel they will lose their income and status in society if we had socialized government run health care. Certainly insurance companies will lose a major profit making scheme for them. NO loss there only gains in delivery of services where they are needed.
Socialized government run health care works and works well contrary to what the current people pushing the status quo would want you to believe. Canada is a prime example no one goes bankrupt in Canada for medical problems or England that I have heard. In fact if you watch the movie "Sicko" by Rodger More, people actually get PAID GAS MONEY for having to go to the hospital. The cost for the system is half to 1/3rd what we are paying now here in the USA. Facts the current for profit system doesn't want out. The doctors there are very happy with their compensation and live extremely well. Not as well as American doctors and this is the exact point. How much money do you really need or want? There can be a lot of changes to the system to make it more affordable especially in the education side. But spending $200,000 to get a job that pays north of $1million is nothing to be complaining about.
Leif P Damstoft
Warren