Pediatricians salaries

[Anonymous]

my husband is an orthopedic surgeon and makes between 600k-700k per year. he was in school until he was 32. he continues to work ridiculous hours at a major area hospital. if he was in private practice i think he would make close to a million. i dont know where the other surgeons who make "2k" per procedure are working,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty soon, reality will set in. When congress is done with doctors, they might just quitely retire. The doctors' lifestyle is barely sustainable now. With further reductions in income, it will be unbearable.

Unbearable, meaning they will have incomes like the rest of us? As doctors in other countries do?

I say we go for it.

I don't even know how to respond to this. You are complete idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty soon, reality will set in. When congress is done with doctors, they might just quitely retire. The doctors' lifestyle is barely sustainable now. With further reductions in income, it will be unbearable.

What are you talking about? I thought we were going to have better care, more doctors and more people covered for less money!

LOL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my husband is an orthopedic surgeon and makes between 600k-700k per year. he was in school until he was 32. he continues to work ridiculous hours at a major area hospital. if he was in private practice i think he would make close to a million. i dont know where the other surgeons who make "2k" per procedure are working,

What? I don't know one ortho surgeon making that much, unless you mean some spine surgeons who get sued yearly. Maybe prior to paying mal insurance and other overhead. But the ones I know, their incomes are closer to $350-$400 K per year on 70 hour weeks and radiation exposure. Those 70 hour weeks are complete, hard work all through the day and night. No coffee breaks.

[Anonymous]

Let's face it, I want my pilot and surgeon to be well paid!
I want to know that he/she is happy at home, and can easliy afford the basic luxuries. If you are flying my tail across the pacific, I have NOOOO problem with a $350K salary. As a matter of fact, I will not get on a plane if I know the pilot gets 25K! (wasn't there a salary grievance with that Egypt Air pilot who put that plane into the sea years ago). I want fewer crazies coming into medicine (see thread about doctor in Delaware). I hope the profession can be very selective in the furture. Please people, think about what your expectations are. Unrealistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That can mess up personal relationships like marriage, but it is an option. I heard that they expect at least 5 years of your time.

5years of what?!
and anything can mess up a marriage!

[Anonymous]

wow, just wow. How did I miss this topic before?

Oh, I know - I was busy taking care of the kids, while my dh (6 yrs after residency and fellowship training) is never home because he's seeing patients and staying after work so he can study for a board exam ($1600 fee) he needs to take so he can continue to see rude patients.

I cannot believe that a physican's skills were compared to ones of a cleaning lady or that $150K is a decent salary. Yes, it's a free country and you can make stupid and ignorant comments, but didn't your mother teach not to talk just for the sake of talking?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all the posters complaining about doctors' pay, are you willing to pay more either directly to the doctor's office or through higher insurance premiums? If not, where do you propose the additional money comes from?

No, I would not be willing to pay more, and honestly, I think that $150K is a decent salary. There are tons of people who are making a lot less.

Quite selfish of you. You must not realize the debt your DR has from school loans just to take care of you.
I have a HSA account so that the DR is paid more by me.

Lets me see if I get this straight. I am selfish because I do not want to pay more for health insurance or doctor's bills, but the doctor is question is not selfish for wanting to make more money? Just how much more do you think I should be willing to pay and how much are you willing to pay? BTW, thanks for assuming that I can even afford to pay more.

Most of the people who are being squeezed by the healthcare system are those who make a lot less than doctors. To suggest that they be squeezed for more money so that doctors can afford to have a certain standard of living.

So stop paying the Health Insurance companies, you idiot, pay the doctors, get a Health Savings Account. But OH, perhaps you are not paying for insurance, perhaps your company pay, thus you are looking for "free" healthcare.

NP here - what is wrong with expecting free health care? Many countries have successful federal programs that guarantee free health care and free higher education, it's every citizen's right and one of the government's most important responsibilities. Why is that so outrageous here? It's a serious question...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty soon, reality will set in. When congress is done with doctors, they might just quitely retire. The doctors' lifestyle is barely sustainable now. With further reductions in income, it will be unbearable.

What are you talking about? I thought we were going to have better care, more doctors and more people covered for less money!

LOL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all the posters complaining about doctors' pay, are you willing to pay more either directly to the doctor's office or through higher insurance premiums? If not, where do you propose the additional money comes from?

No, I would not be willing to pay more, and honestly, I think that $150K is a decent salary. There are tons of people who are making a lot less.

Quite selfish of you. You must not realize the debt your DR has from school loans just to take care of you.
I have a HSA account so that the DR is paid more by me.

Lets me see if I get this straight. I am selfish because I do not want to pay more for health insurance or doctor's bills, but the doctor is question is not selfish for wanting to make more money? Just how much more do you think I should be willing to pay and how much are you willing to pay? BTW, thanks for assuming that I can even afford to pay more.

Most of the people who are being squeezed by the healthcare system are those who make a lot less than doctors. To suggest that they be squeezed for more money so that doctors can afford to have a certain standard of living.

So stop paying the Health Insurance companies, you idiot, pay the doctors, get a Health Savings Account. But OH, perhaps you are not paying for insurance, perhaps your company pay, thus you are looking for "free" healthcare.

NP here - what is wrong with expecting free health care? Many countries have successful federal programs that guarantee free health care and free higher education, it's every citizen's right and one of the government's most important responsibilities. Why is that so outrageous here? It's a serious question...

ok maybe YOU can be the person who can work all hours and sacrifice your personal life to provide free care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all the posters complaining about doctors' pay, are you willing to pay more either directly to the doctor's office or through higher insurance premiums? If not, where do you propose the additional money comes from?

No, I would not be willing to pay more, and honestly, I think that $150K is a decent salary. There are tons of people who are making a lot less.

Quite selfish of you. You must not realize the debt your DR has from school loans just to take care of you.
I have a HSA account so that the DR is paid more by me.

Lets me see if I get this straight. I am selfish because I do not want to pay more for health insurance or doctor's bills, but the doctor is question is not selfish for wanting to make more money? Just how much more do you think I should be willing to pay and how much are you willing to pay? BTW, thanks for assuming that I can even afford to pay more.

Most of the people who are being squeezed by the healthcare system are those who make a lot less than doctors. To suggest that they be squeezed for more money so that doctors can afford to have a certain standard of living.

So stop paying the Health Insurance companies, you idiot, pay the doctors, get a Health Savings Account. But OH, perhaps you are not paying for insurance, perhaps your company pay, thus you are looking for "free" healthcare.

NP here - what is wrong with expecting free health care? Many countries have successful federal programs that guarantee free health care and free higher education, it's every citizen's right and one of the government's most important responsibilities. Why is that so outrageous here? It's a serious question...

ok maybe YOU can be the person who can work all hours and sacrifice your personal life to provide free care.

huh? maybe you need to reread what I wrote... I never said Drs should work for free, I said in this type of system, its the government's responsibility to provide health care and education to people, and everyone has the same right and access to it, regardless of income. Drs OF COURSE get paid, just not by the people or insurance companies...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wroteretty soon, reality will set in. When congress is done with doctors, they might just quitely retire. The doctors' lifestyle is barely sustainable now. With further reductions in income, it will be unbearable.

What are you talking about? I thought we were going to have better care, more doctors and more people covered for less money!


LOL!

What in the hell are you even talking about? WHAT further reductions in income? If the USG provided free health care - instituted an actual federalized healthcare program, this would work. It would be a non-profit government program. The HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES are who is stealing the money from the doctors.

The five largest U.S. health insurance companies sailed through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression to set new industry profit records in 2009, a feat accomplished by leaving behind 2.7 million americans who had been inprivate health plans. For customers who kept their benefits, the insurers raised rates and cost-sharing,and cut the share of premiums spent on medical care. Executives and shareholders of the five biggest for-profit health insurers, UnitedHealthGroup inc., WellPoint inc., Aetna Inc., Humana Inc., and Cigna Corp., enjoyed combined profit of $12.2 billion in 2009, up 56 percent from the previous year. It was the best year ever for Big Insurance.

…

The 2009 financial reports from the nation’s five largest insurance companies reveal that:

* The firms made $12.2 billion, an increase of $4.4 billion, or 56 percent, from 2008.
o Four out of the five companies saw earnings increases, with CIGNA’s profits jumping 346 percent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is true-if Hillary or Obama gets their hands on the healthcare system we will see more and more people who would/should have been a doctor go into another field. The reasons are self evident-someone who is a doctor is obviously smart..very smart and they could do about anything. Why should they go into a field where they study for sometimes over ten years to have the government decide what they should be making in their business practice and each office is it's own small business. I want my doctors making lots of money-they deserve it!!

By that way of thinking then I want my dc's teacher's to make lots and lots of money. The teacher is with dc way more than the doctor. And except for emergencies most visits to the doc are pretty run of the mill.

[Anonymous]

I, too, would pay much more for the routine care I get.

My mother is a doctor in an important but not highly-paid specialty. The insurance companies are NOT a partner in patients' health nor in physicians' compensation. She gets paid crap per visit and often has to wait many months to see that money. What are the insurance co's doing with the money during that time? They're investing it, that's what.

Yes, there is no doubt that more and more docs are going off the grid or quitting or going into, well, business with the drug co's or whoever it is that actually has $$$ to spend. A tragedy. You know my mother -- who LOVES her profession for what it once was and enjoys the satisfaction of healing and helping -- told her three over-educated daughters not to go into medicine unless it was surgery, and surgery only if of the plastic variety (where you can set your own schedule). She said it just wasn't worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I, too, would pay much more for the routine care I get.

My mother is a doctor in an important but not highly-paid specialty. The insurance companies are NOT a partner in patients' health nor in physicians' compensation. She gets paid crap per visit and often has to wait many months to see that money. What are the insurance co's doing with the money during that time? They're investing it, that's what.

Yes, there is no doubt that more and more docs are going off the grid or quitting or going into, well, business with the drug co's or whoever it is that actually has $$$ to spend. A tragedy. You know my mother -- who LOVES her profession for what it once was and enjoys the satisfaction of healing and helping -- told her three over-educated daughters not to go into medicine unless it was surgery, and surgery only if of the plastic variety (where you can set your own schedule). She said it just wasn't worth it.

PP here -- to follow up, my mum was devastated when the health care system became the piss-ants of the health insurance companies. Private industry interests and power, she feels, is bleeding the system dry, doing a disservice to doctors and to patients.