My doctor basically just fired me

[Skippy123]

I don't know. If I had an on-going health concern, I wanted excellent care and had the money, I would pay the yearly fee. Really, at this point, I would just be happy to have a doctor to go to. Seems the trend is to replace doctors with nurse practioners, and sorry, but it's not the same thing. I've been sick for weeks with a sinus infection, went to a nurse practioner at a clinic because it was EASY to just drop in to see her on my way to work. Three weeks later, after a phone call and another prescription from the APRN, and I'm still sick. Went to my doctor yesterday. He was confused by the antibiotic she prescribed, since it apparently is not the go-to medication for sinus infections (after the Z-pak, which is too strong for me), and then proceeded to prescribe ANOTHER antibiotic and the correct OTC medication for me. So, it's now 6 weeks into this sinus infection for me, and hmm, what's my point -- my point is, I'd rather see a doctor, so I can avoid this whole APRN hmm-let-me-try-this-one-maybe-it-will-work approach to medicine. No offense intended to any APRNs here, of course, but this is the second time I've tried to go the APRN route and just wound up sick for longer. Just my personal experience!

Anyway, the APRN told me that there is an apparent shortage of doctors here (CT), and they are trying to open more of these clinic with APRNs to reconcile the shortage. Not sure if that is accurate, or not, but I would prefer an adequate number of doctors, so yeah, I do think they should be adequately compensated, whatever that amount may be. I really have no issues with an excellent physician transitioning to a concierge practice. If people want to pay direct, let them.

ditto! I would pay the money too.

 

[kenny]

Why do you feel entitled to less expensive healthcare when you appear to be able to afford concierge medicine if you so wished?

I actually believe health care is a human right, so I'll go beyond that and state that I think all U.S. citizens are entitled to FREE healthcare. (And yes, I realize that that free healthcare would need to be paid for with tax dollars, and would happily pay more taxes to guarantee that right to my fellow citizens.) That said, I'm lucky enough to have great health insurance and a lack of doctors who feel entitled to $1800 per patient for the privilege of seeing them.

Interesting that my posts seem to convey that I can afford $1800/year for concierge medicine, though. Why, I don't even make as much $ as a family practice doc.

Sorry, the post was directly toward Kenny, and I'm basing my assumption on his large carat diamond collections.

I once heard about an American woman who worked as what was then called a secretary for a very low wage.
Her passion was opera.
She lived like a miser but scrimped and saved so once a decade she could fly to Bayreuth, Germany to attend Wagner's Festival of the Ring Cycle.
This is considered by some to be the pinnacle of the opera art form.
http://www.worldwideticketing.com/festivals/bayreuth-wagner-festival.htm

There she sat a very low-income person in a hall with very high-income people.

I am that like woman, but instead of opera, it's diamonds.

Second, who the hail are you to judge me and second guess my financial priorities?
Third, I do not feel entitled to anything and WILL pay my own way, thank you very much.

 

[Autumnovember]

It's disappointing to read how some PSers seem to think doctors go in it for the money and how they don't care about their patients and how they don't deserve to earn a good living. What about your friends who are in healthcare thing? Did they go into it with good intentions and to make a difference? Since you are friends with them it gives you an inside look at their motivation. What are your thoughts about their reasons?

I want to add I have seen my fair share of "bad" doctors. Absolutely. And that is upsetting on many different levels but especially because of all the trust we, as patients, give them to care for us and keep us/make us healthy. However, in every field you will find "bad apples" and it is up to us to decide if we want to remain in their care or move on. For whatever reason. We are free to do so (money notwithstanding).

I never said doctors don't deserve to earn a good living, although I'm not sure about the use of the word "deserve." Sounds rather entitled, don't you think? I think doctors should be fairly compensated for their specialized training and knowledge. What I'm curious is what doctors think is fair compensation, but I haven't gotten an answer yet from the doctors posting. According to salary.com (caveat: no idea how reliable that site is) the average family practice doc makes $175,596 a year. Even with $35k/year in student loan repayment, that's a decent living.

As for my friends, I think some of them went into it to help people (one of them is in Sudan right now with Doctors Without Borders), and I think some of them went into it for the status. Doctors vary.

This, this, this, this, this!!!!!

 

[ieatbugs]

Why do you feel entitled to less expensive healthcare when you appear to be able to afford concierge medicine if you so wished?

I actually believe health care is a human right, so I'll go beyond that and state that I think all U.S. citizens are entitled to FREE healthcare. (And yes, I realize that that free healthcare would need to be paid for with tax dollars, and would happily pay more taxes to guarantee that right to my fellow citizens.) That said, I'm lucky enough to have great health insurance and a lack of doctors who feel entitled to $1800 per patient for the privilege of seeing them.

Interesting that my posts seem to convey that I can afford $1800/year for concierge medicine, though. Why, I don't even make as much $ as a family practice doc.

Sorry, the post was directly toward Kenny, and I'm basing my assumption on his large carat diamond collections.

I once heard about an American woman who worked as what was then called a secretary for a very low wage.
Her passion was opera.
She lived like a miser but scrimped and saved so once a decade she could fly to Bayreuth, Germany to attend Wagner's Festival of the Ring Cycle.
This is considered by some to be the pinnacle of the opera art form.
http://www.worldwideticketing.com/festivals/bayreuth-wagner-festival.htm

There she sat a very low-income person in a hall with very high-income people.

I am that like woman, but instead of opera, it's diamonds.

Second, who the hail are you to judge me and second guess my financial priorities?
Third, I do not feel entitled to anything and WILL pay my own way, thank you very much.

Sure you do. You feel entitled to complain about a Dr's choice to switch to concierge medicine and the prices he is asking while also showing off diamonds which you have said are a good way to invest large quantities of money.

You also feel entitled to educate women about extremely personal choices in regards to child rearing and their own bodies, such as breastfeeding.

 

[kenny]

Why do you feel entitled to less expensive healthcare when you appear to be able to afford concierge medicine if you so wished?

I actually believe health care is a human right, so I'll go beyond that and state that I think all U.S. citizens are entitled to FREE healthcare. (And yes, I realize that that free healthcare would need to be paid for with tax dollars, and would happily pay more taxes to guarantee that right to my fellow citizens.) That said, I'm lucky enough to have great health insurance and a lack of doctors who feel entitled to $1800 per patient for the privilege of seeing them.

Interesting that my posts seem to convey that I can afford $1800/year for concierge medicine, though. Why, I don't even make as much $ as a family practice doc.

Sorry, the post was directly toward Kenny, and I'm basing my assumption on his large carat diamond collections.

I once heard about an American woman who worked as what was then called a secretary for a very low wage.
Her passion was opera.
She lived like a miser but scrimped and saved so once a decade she could fly to Bayreuth, Germany to attend Wagner's Festival of the Ring Cycle.
This is considered by some to be the pinnacle of the opera art form.
http://www.worldwideticketing.com/festivals/bayreuth-wagner-festival.htm

There she sat a very low-income person in a hall with very high-income people.

I am that like woman, but instead of opera, it's diamonds.

Second, who the hail are you to judge me and second guess my financial priorities?
Third, I do not feel entitled to anything and WILL pay my own way, thank you very much.

Sure you do. You feel entitled to complain about a Dr's choice to switch to concierge medicine and the prices he is asking while also showing off diamonds which you have said are a good way to invest large quantities of money.

You also feel entitled to educate women about extremely personal choices in regards to child rearing and their own bodies, such as breastfeeding.

You are on ignore.

 

[Ella]

This thread is going quickly off topic and will be closed.