You don’t read very well, do you? I’m glad you’re not taking medicare anymore. I’m glad you had the courage to do it. I don’t want you to be bankrupt. I want you to make money. I just want to know how much you have to make before you’re happy enough to quit bitching incessantly.

By the way, physicians still make, on average, 50% more than lawyers. Cry to someone else that you can’t live on an average salary of $150K a year.

1: Do you realize CJD that lawyer’s annual salary has increased robustly after inflation going back to the late 90′s while DOCTOR’S (on average) have DECREASED.

2: Do you realize that the 1997 budget act requires “budget cuts” for doctor’s medicare reimbursement (which everybody else key’s off of) based on amount of money brought in. Though these cuts in general have not occurred (thanks to yearly last minute congress intervention SO FAR), neither have any realistic increases that take into account inflation and increased costs. Tell me CJD. How much would YOU “whine” if that happened to you?

3: Can you read for comprehension CJD? I no longer take new medicaid pts and am one cut away from taking medicare pts. Why? Because I am not only a doctor but a small businessman. I WILL NOT go into bankuptcy because of the government’s inability to pay at least an amount of money so I can stay in the black on pt’s visits. IS THAT TOTALLY AND UNEQIVICALLY CLEAR ENOUGH FOR YOU CJD? Many docs are in the bind I am. You want to do right by people but you can’t lose your business because of it. In fact I talk to other PCP’s in my situation. Refusing to those who most need it is not an easy thing to do. Of course who suffers in the end? The medicaid/medicare pts further access to doctors.

PS: You don’t actually run a business do you CJD. Because your statments make it rather plain to me you are employee of a governmental agency of some type. It is easy to pontificate when you don’t really understand the situation from the outside.

How much profit do you need to stop whining so damn much? I don’t care who you treat, but will you ever stop bitching?

Probably more so in fact. Where they control the influx of doctors is at the consultant level. Set the bar high, make it very difficult to pass. Then they get registrars who stay in the system much longer, at reduced pay, subject to government whims. When you become a consultant, you can then practice privately.

Like one anaesthetist I met once. He was complaining about being in the long neurosurgical case all day, never seeing his consultant (our “attending physician”).

I made some observation about the consultant being in the office doing research, writing grants, instead of the clinical work. I figured NHS training hospitals wee like our USA teaching hospitals.

He gave me the “stupid American” look. Of course the consultant was not available to him because he was in the NHS hospital long enough to induce anesthesia. After that he was in the private hospital nearby doing private cases for real money.

re: “My name is Ian Gibson. I am from northern England but underwent an ultimately successful transplant operation to the United States over eight years ago.”

Anon 9:00: The answer is very easy. We should be able to see pt’s and recieve a profit rather than lose money. The simple fact is I no longer take new state medicaid pts and am one congressional cut away from no longer accepting new medicare pts. Why, because I lose money every time I see a medicaid pt and medicare is only slightly positive at this point. I know very well how much I recieve from each payment plan (much better than you thank you) as I am not only a doctor but a small businessman. If I don’t know what is going on I will go bankrupt. Of course the bigger issue here is that medicaid and now medicare pts are losing doctor access with paltry payments. But I am sure you have much less understanding of that subject than I as I am the one who has seen these people on a daily basis for decades. It is easy to sprout the same $hit over and over again on this website, but you don’t actually contribute anything….must be a lawyer.