Physicians as civil servants

Isn’t a single-payer system supposed to solve these problems? Apparently not, as this scenario in Canada sounds suspiciously like what’s happening Stateside:

With no ability to address changing environments in their businesses and the government “paying the piper”, physicians soon began to lose their professionalism, and, as the only means of controlling their incomes, began choosing what they would and would not do, depending on time involved, remuneration per item of service, etc. When the government declared they were taking a more business-like approach to healthcare, the physicians responded by taking a more business-like approach to their practices.

So where are we at now? Most doctors limit a visit to one complaint by the patient. Additional complaints need additional appointments. Many family docs have taken up lucrative sidelines outside of the healthcare system (eg. botox injections, hair transplants, etc). A strong trend towards walk-in clinic work and away from continuing patient care and management exists, and the number of young medical graduates choosing family medicine is continually on the decline.

Related posts:

1. Luke Perry and Matthew McConaughey
2. Is history squeezing out primary care?
3. The danger of Medicare for all
4. Botox to the next level
5. DrRich to the NY Times: Chill
6. Sick or not
7. Physicians, just glorified merchants?

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Tagged as: patient, primary care