Comments on: Primary care shortage http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/05/primary-care-shortage.html medical blog Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:06:55 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Anonymous http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/05/primary-care-shortage.html/comment-page-1#comment-85659 Anonymous Sat, 17 May 2008 19:23:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2008/05/primary-care-shortage.html#comment-85659 "Need" is a subjective judgement. If people aren't willing to pay what it takes to support high-quality primary care, then they have decided that they don't in fact "need" it. Beginning my junior year of medical school, the same year that my law career bound classmates graduated law school, I spent the next 5 years working what amounted to two full time jobs and sometimes more with every 3rd or 4th and sometimes every other day spent working 36 hourse or more. If they don't want to compensate me at hourly rates at least close to what my bachelor's degreed CPA charges me, then they don't value my services at a level commensurate with the resources invested in the skills, and must not be in such great need afterall.<br/><br/>If I accept fees lower than one reason dictates people will do this for, If in fact I accept fees that are even now resulting in a shunning of the field by those best able to do it, then I am cheating not only myself and my family, but also the community of patients who in the future will not get the service because I helped drive the price down to non-viability. Charity is waiving ones fee for the poor. Agreeing to unsustainably low fees for those able to pay is false charity and actually socially irresponsible. “Need” is a subjective judgement. If people aren’t willing to pay what it takes to support high-quality primary care, then they have decided that they don’t in fact “need” it. Beginning my junior year of medical school, the same year that my law career bound classmates graduated law school, I spent the next 5 years working what amounted to two full time jobs and sometimes more with every 3rd or 4th and sometimes every other day spent working 36 hourse or more. If they don’t want to compensate me at hourly rates at least close to what my bachelor’s degreed CPA charges me, then they don’t value my services at a level commensurate with the resources invested in the skills, and must not be in such great need afterall.

If I accept fees lower than one reason dictates people will do this for, If in fact I accept fees that are even now resulting in a shunning of the field by those best able to do it, then I am cheating not only myself and my family, but also the community of patients who in the future will not get the service because I helped drive the price down to non-viability. Charity is waiving ones fee for the poor. Agreeing to unsustainably low fees for those able to pay is false charity and actually socially irresponsible.

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