I presume he refers to the million other things that could happen besides you getting fired - e.g. injury or accident in the family, severe illness, etc. Sure, most will have decent insurance policies to cover those things, but didn't State Farm only settle like 400 Katrina claims altogether? Even if you do get the coverage in case you become unable to work or your office burns down, it can take years to obtain the funds.
I think the majority would agree that the biggest factor is malpractice. As long as the mentality and the legal system continue to allow for frivolous lawsuits and for outrageous compensation for the smallest things, nothing is going to be resolved. If you just increase the compensation, it will just drive the cost of healthcare even higher up and so many people already can't afford it.
Any other data available?
I heard that physicians in Hong Kong earn more than physicians in USA. They only have an MBBS and most work office hours.
Comfort... not in the working environment and not in the number of hours. But comfort knowing that no matter how bad the economy gets you will still have a job.
There is a comparison going on with other job areas. I think if there weren't tradespeople that earn $150k a year, or salespeople that earn $175k a year then there won't be as much complaining. People have the idea that when they get into med school they are set in life. But with busting your ass in undergrad, plus 4 years of medical school and $250,000 debt, 4-6 years of residency at peanut pay, and ultimately 60 hours a week for meager return... the investment doesn't look so fulfilling for some.
"I have increased stress, high blood pressure," he says. He's so wound up by the time he gets home from the office that his wife won't talk to him for an hour afterward. He's watched a couple of physician friends undergo open-heart surgery. Still, he's reluctant. His income dropped 25 percent in one recent year."
"Doctors have lost ground. Insurance companies have ganged up on them. "I have anxiety about staying in business," says an internist who's put his own money toward payroll. The trouble isn't just financial. Perks, privileges, esteem (self-esteem too) have all been hit. Many physicians work longer hours. And now, it seems, all kinds of people -- including clerks! -- are telling them what to do."
"many American doctors are unhappy with the quality of their professional lives." The literature on this reads like the intake form at a depression clinic: "increasing marginalization," "discontent," "confused," "angry," "insulted."
"Lately, lots of doctors have to pick up work on the side. Horowitz works as a medical consultant at Juilliard. One doctor got involved with a dot-com for a few years -- which was the last time he flew business-class. Some physicians augment their incomes by selling herbs, food supplements, cosmetics, even household cleaners in their offices. Schayes sells vitamins. "I buy wholesale and sell retail," he says. "It was kind of embarrassing at first. But at the end of the year it makes a big difference." Last year, Schayes, an M.D. approaching the height of his earning power, earned about $120,000 -- which doesn't come close to buying what people once thought of as the M.D. lifestyle. Soon, Schayes figures, his wife will have to go back to work. She hasn't worked in five years while the kids grow up. "She doesn't want to, but I'm making her," says Schayes. "Besides, she's a lawyer. Her earning potential is greater than mine."
"As Fox explains, "I don't have any clout." Insurance companies have clout, institutions have clout, even patients have some. And so, just like any disgruntled worker, doctors -- doctors! -- are turning to unions."
"The insurance industry has created a slave workforce out of the doctor," says Moshe Rubin, a gastroenterologist at Columbia."
http://nymag.com/nymetro/health/features/5044/
This is today, just imagine what it will look like ten years from now.
And let's get real here. I've worked a few blue collar jobs and have thus had a first-hand view of what it's like. For example, there was this low-tech manufacturing plant I worked at (dirt packing, basically). The guys start at $11 an hour, progress to $12 after 3 months. 80% of the hires don't make the 3-month benchmark. The work involves being there at 7 AM with dirt and dust in the air, you spend the 8 hour-day packing dirt into boxes and jugs (dirt is being spat out by machinery), sealing these boxes/screwing lids on those jugs. By 3 PM, you are likely to have lifted 200,000 lbs' worth of boxes. You've spent 8 hours in a dusty overheated plant surrounded by machinery banging at 90-110 decibels - all on your feet, by the way. You can't stop and take a break for a few minutes, because this is the assembly line and the machinery will break if the line is not kept clear. Then you come home, blow your nose, everything comes out black. First off, try going to school after you've had a day like that - and some of these guys had kids and had to work ANOTHER job on the weekend.
Let's see how much you will have made by age 65 (but we all know you won't retire then) - $880,000!so all those add up to around 125k in deductable?
how about social security? premium for malpractice insurance?
You're right about SS, but malpractice insurance is a business expense.how about social security? premium for malpractice insurance?
And let's get real here. I've worked a few blue collar jobs and have thus had a first-hand view of what it's like. For example, there was this low-tech manufacturing plant I worked at (dirt packing, basically). The guys start at $11 an hour, progress to $12 after 3 months. 80% of the hires don't make the 3-month benchmark. The work involves being there at 7 AM with dirt and dust in the air, you spend the 8 hour-day packing dirt into boxes and jugs (dirt is being spat out by machinery), sealing these boxes/screwing lids on those jugs. By 3 PM, you are likely to have lifted 200,000 lbs' worth of boxes. You've spent 8 hours in a dusty overheated plant surrounded by machinery banging at 90-110 decibels - all on your feet, by the way. You can't stop and take a break for a few minutes, because this is the assembly line and the machinery will break if the line is not kept clear. Then you come home, blow your nose, everything comes out black. First off, try going to school after you've had a day like that - and some of these guys had kids and had to work ANOTHER job on the weekend.
And let's see how much you are making - about $1800 a month, $22,000 a year. Yeah, you got no student loans, you lucky bastard!
Let's take a whiny NY doctor next. So you'll have paid $300K in loans/interest over your career of, say, 40 years. During this time, you will have made a paltry $120K a year. Let's see how much that adds up to - $4,800,000. Let's subtract the $300K you paid in loans - $4.5 million. 5 times what the other guy made!
Excuse me, my heart is bleeding! Any underpaid thoracic surgeons around here or did they all faint from hunger on the way to work today?
point of my original post is that 120k before and after tax is quite different.
i'm not a business/accounting major and never really bothered to look at all the tax stuff. just fill in those blanks on those tax softwares...
point of my original post is that 120k before and after tax is quite different.
i'm not a business/accounting major and never really looked at all the tax stuff. just fill in those blanks on those tax softwares...
not if the wife is ballin'
