The Doctors are Upset With the System-Part 1

A couple of days ago I was in my doctor's office and there were patients everywhere. I didn't really pay any attention to the situation because my doctor is always busy. Recently I had changed my insurance and I knew that my doctor was not taking any new patients. My doctor is a great doctor and you expect to wait for his service, but why is he so busy!

Just the other day I was on the internet and an article concerning doctors was titled "fewer primary care physicians in America". Basically it stated that many family practices are closed to new practices and many doctors are refusing medicaid and medicare patients. Doctors feel there is to much red tape and administrative and bureaucratic procedures with these patients. They also feel that the government wants the doctors to take to large a discount on their normal charges.

The article was also discussing the increase in doctors liability insurance. One doctor stated in 2000 has insurance was 20,000 dollars and the next year it was increasing to 33,000 dollars. Each year his insurance continued to increase and now it is increasing to over 100,000 dollars. His insurance has tripled and he feels that he may take an early retirement because of the expense of insurance.

Many of the doctors feel that their profits are being eaten up by insurance, overhead, technology, and red tape. In order to stay current my doctors has been forced to make his office digital. This I am sure was a very expensive investment, but information is more accurate and faster. He is able to see more patients but is his practice more profitable. His business appears to be excellent yet the bottom line probably is decreasing.

At medical schools the students don't want to go into the area of family medicine or a generalist. They realize that they can make more money by being a specialist. At one time you could make an appointment to see a specialist in 7 to 10 days. Now it takes 4 to 6 months and in some parts of the country you have to travel to even find a specialist.

Maybe my doctor is working so hard because he is just trying to pay his bills. On the outside it appears that he is making money and he has reached a level of success. But in the article many doctors are leaving the practice and new doctors are worried if they can pay the exorbitant insurance rates. I was always under the impression that once you spent all the money in school to become a doctor you had achieved a level of privilege and success. However the reality was that now you have to work harder to pay back your debts and borrow money to start a practice.

Now I understand why my doctor at times is sarcastic. Now I understand what it takes to maintain. Now I understand when they get there, they have no time to breath. What happened to the pie, when they became a Doctor? Did someone lie to them too?
Roger