"Frank Boettcher" wrote in message
...

Today the average doctor makes
approximately five times and much and many specialists make 15-20
times.

Where have you been, Frank? 15-20x? Hardly. Nearly all medical
reimbursement to physicians is now third party, and the rates of
reimbursement have been cut dramatically. Whereas a cardiologist could
reasonably presume to earn in excess of $500K per year in the mid-90s, today
they are lucky to clear $200K before taxes on average. Top-notch surgeons
used to earn well over a million per year, but work harder now, do more
surgeries and make half that or less. There are a few physicians in
private-pay only settings who still make the megabucks, but they are few and
far between.

In an industry that controls supply side by the number of
available seats in Medical schools which is way out of proportion to
the talent available.

Really? Have you chatted with emerging med school grads these days? My
recommendation to you is that you'd be well-advised to stay very healthy in
your later years. Entrusting your life to some of these new physicians
would seem riskier than skydiving. Medicine doesn't pay nearly as well as
it used to, ergo the top-notch students don't apply to the schools in the
percentage they used to. They now go into computer-related and finance
fields, where the money is. I was one of 69 optometry students chosen from
a field of nearly 1000 qualified applicants in 1980. Today the entering
class at my school is 60 students drawn from roughly 450 qualified
applicants. Med schools take about 250 students annually from a field of
roughly 1500 applicants, but of the 1250 who don't get into one school,
about 70% of them get into another school. You've implied that the supply
side of medical doctors is controlled ostensibly to keep earning high for
those in the profession. What would you propose? Would you take all of the
qualified applicants in order to spread the money around? And what would
the result of that move be? My best guess is that fewer and fewer qualified
applicants would show up each year. Money and prestige are and always have
been the primary driving force behind the interest in medicine, but are
becoming mitigated more and more each year. Stay healthy.

And that has been going on most of my life. As
a pre-65 forced retiree I spend five times as much for health care as
gasoline. And I'm healthy. And I don't hear very much about that.

Do you really believe physicians' fees are responsible for the high cost of
medical care? If so, you'd better do some research. Dr. fees are only a
small part of the equation. Hospital costs are a far larger percentage, and
profits to health care insurers is an equally-large percentage. And the
cost of absorbing the expense of hosptial and medical care for the
uninsured, impoverished masses may just be the largest percentage. In any
discussion of illegal immigration, this factor must be considered, because
it's significant. My wife had an undocumented Mexican patient on her floor
at the hospital who required extensive care and treatment for a period of 6
weeks. After incurring an unpaid and unreimbursed (by the gov't.) bill in
excess of $1million, the hospital wanted to dismiss the patient to long-term
care, but no one would take her. So the hospital covered the cost of
putting the woman on a private jet and flying her to Mexico City, where she
was turned over to Mexican authorities for extended care. My guess is that
they let her die.

But let gasoline go up and the cry begins. Mostly from people driving
urban assault vehicles and throwing their plastic (oil) disposable
junk out the window. And lining up at WalMart to get that cheap
chinese stuff, which is the primary reason for the world market in
energy going through the roof.

Yup. Do you advocate paying more for inferior, more costly domestic goods?
Do you think you'll find anyone standing in line behind you in that
philosophy?

Max