You’ve spent over a decade in education and on the job training and incurred over a $100,000 in debt in order to get into a profession. In this profession, if you make a mistake you’re going to get sued. A jury will rely more on emotion than facts to find you guilty, and it’s going to cost you a bundle to defend yourself anyway – even if you win, the process is the punishment. Your reputation will be irreparably harmed no matter the outcome.
The government is always on the prowl to find new ways to regulate you. And if you violate those regulations, you don’t just get fined. You can go to jail. You may take a lot of pleasure and satisfaction in the work but the work itself is stressful, with serious and long-reaching potential consequences.
Politicians are out there every week on the campaign trail telling people that they have a right to enjoy your services without paying for them and building resentment against you and your coworkers. Two, maybe three of the top contenders for president of the country seem to think it would be just keen for you to work as essentially an indentured servant with your working conditions and pay determined by the government, which would be the only employer available for your industry. And although that hasn’t yet happened, the largest and fastest growing market for your services is already subject to arbitrary price controls by the government.
If you were that guy, maybe you’d be thinking about retiring or finding a different job. If you were contemplating that career, maybe you’d reconsider. Wouldn’t you?
I like your post, but the author you cite at the end sounds like a socialist. Why should we mind if Medicare payments get cut? I think the whole Medicare program should be abolished. If the reimbursements get cut and doctors subsequently quit accepting Medicare patients, that is a good thing.
Also, I didn’t understand what you meant about arbitrary price controls already in place.
Kevin, MD is very much against socialized medicine. We should mind if Medicare payments get cut because of the effect on doctors. Those payment cuts ARE arbitrary price controls. They’re making them without regard to what it costs medical professionals to deliver the services, and the only other alternative is to basically abandon that market, because the number of elderly who don’t rely on Medicare is pretty small. The number of general practictioners and doctors who specialize in elder care is shrinking, just as the baby boomers retire and we need them most.
While I’d be happy to have Medicare abolished, I’d like that to happen in a fair and honest way that doesn’t throw Grandma with no other alternatives (now) under the bus. For decades, people have planned their retirements factoring in Medicare. (We should abolish it for younger people who have time to make other arrangements, and privatize SS while we’re at it.) These cuts are a sneaky way to ration care for elderly people.
Mostly, though, I worry about the decrease in the number of doctors this sort of thing will cause. It’s not the desirable job it used to be.