I donated a couple bucks...
I do have to say, as a newspaper reporter who has written dozens of articles about HEALTH INSURANCE companies, the main reason doctors have trouble donating services is because HMOs and health insurance providers constantly drag their feet with reimbursements.
Considering the average doctor has to pay MORE than $50,000 per year for JUST malpractice insurance and the majority of his or her income comes through reimbursements, which often take more than a year to come through, that $150,000 / year salary suddenly doesn't seem that large.
Oh, and most docs have hundreds of thousands in loans to pay off for the decade of education they had to get. . .
Sorry to sidetrack the thread. I just felt it necessary to shed some light on the issues that many doctors face and point out the accusations of greed and unfairness are somewhat inaccurate. Most doctors would love to give away tons of free services, but considering they're living check to check for the first 15-20 years of their post-internship careers, it's not easy to do so. Times have changed in the medical industry and doctors are having a lot of trouble making ends meet, just like average people.
In my community, our local hospital -- considered one of the BEST in New England -- has been searching for a full time general surgeon for over *2* years. Unfortunately, nobody wants to be a surgeon in a public hospital because you can make a lot more money going into a boutique specialty, like colon surgery, plastic surgery, etc. The $200,000 starting salary at the hospital ends up being about $25,000 after malpractice costs and loan payments are subtracted. The average reimbursement from the insurance company is about 40% less than the actual bill and the average length of time between submittal and reimbursement is about 9-16 months.
This is all information gathered by talking to hospital CEOs, general surgeons, private practitioners, emergency room physicians and chiefs of staff at various medical institutions in the new england area.
Again, sorry to sidetrack the thread, I donated $20 and hope everyone else can help too. Just trying to mix a little fact into the discussion.
- nerp