Wrong move to do Anesthesia?

[jayboyadams]

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People keep telling me that if a Democrat enters office and pushes thru some kind of "Universal" type health care, that Anesthesiologists, as well as most doctors, will suffer severe cuts in salary, not to mention all the problems with Medicare in the next few years.

Im not very well versed in any of this, but does anyone have any light they can shed on this subject? Are anesthesia salaries gonna dip way below what they are now in the next 5, 10, or 20 years?

 

[Consigliere]

No.

 

[bigdan]

What would your other option be, if not Anesthesiology?

Better to do something cool that you like and be "broke", than be broke doing something you hate. Right?

dc

 

[leaverus]

Yeah i don't know much about that stuff either...i just know they need to leave doctors' salaries alone; it's a screwed up world in which people complain about the "exorbitant" salaries of doctors, yet a lousy CHILD RAPIST wins a $57M lottery...*SIGH*

 

[CambieMD]

Hi there,

I am not worried about the future of anesthesia. I am now in a specialty that I love and enjoy going to work every day. Do what you like and the other rewards will follow. If FPs were paid major $$$ I still would not want to practice FP not because it is terrible, it just isn't for me.

Cambie

 

[ucsfgaspain]

I think that I'm a realist about medicine. The political climate in the US has changed and nationalized health care is going to happen. Why? Because business for the first time has now come out in favor of a universal health care system. THis never happened before. Where business goes, politicians go. Whether they are republican or democrat.

Believe me who has better funded political action committess the ASA, the AMA, or big business. Dude , we make chump change compared to CEO's.

If you want to be insulated from universal health care, there is a couple of ways:
1) leave medicine and do something else. You've got to realize that medicine is a business but the only business where the product is considered a right. This screws with the very fundamentals of a free market system.

2) go into a specialty that provides a service that is not considered a right..i.e. cosmetics. People are happy to hand over tens of thousands of dollars to look younger or to have bigger boobs. But they bitch and scream when they have to pay a couple of thousands of dollars to save a loved ones life with a CABG. Even though, they brought on the CAD onto themselves by smoking and eating too much.

It's probably not what you want to hear but I think that this is reality.

I know that when I went through college (Stanford) all the smart kids were premed. Now all the smart kids are heading into I-banking and VC. That says a lot.

Have no delusions about medicine. We are widget makers now no different from the guy at GM banging out an engine block. We are better paid but still fundamentally we are the factory makers that provide the product called health care.

 

[cchoukal]

Have no delusions about medicine. We are widget makers now no different from the guy at GM banging out an engine block. We are better paid but still fundamentally we are the factory makers that provide the product called health care.

I've considered this same analogy, and I tend to agree, at least on a systems scale. And like the automobile workforce of the 80s and 90s, we will get screwed out of our future by administrators and executives...

 

[KNC]

I think that I'm a realist about medicine. The political climate in the US has changed and nationalized health care is going to happen. Why? Because business for the first time has now come out in favor of a universal health care system. THis never happened before. Where business goes, politicians go. Whether they are republican or democrat.

Believe me who has better funded political action committess the ASA, the AMA, or big business. Dude , we make chump change compared to CEO's.

If you want to be insulated from universal health care, there is a couple of ways:
1) leave medicine and do something else. You've got to realize that medicine is a business but the only business where the product is considered a right. This screws with the very fundamentals of a free market system.

2) go into a specialty that provides a service that is not considered a right..i.e. cosmetics. People are happy to hand over tens of thousands of dollars to look younger or to have bigger boobs. But they bitch and scream when they have to pay a couple of thousands of dollars to save a loved ones life with a CABG. Even though, they brought on the CAD onto themselves by smoking and eating too much.

It's probably not what you want to hear but I think that this is reality.

I know that when I went through college (Stanford) all the smart kids were premed. Now all the smart kids are heading into I-banking and VC. That says a lot.

Have no delusions about medicine. We are widget makers now no different from the guy at GM banging out an engine block. We are better paid but still fundamentally we are the factory makers that provide the product called health care.

Now.....Let us pray......

 

[2ndyear]

People keep telling me that if a Democrat enters office and pushes thru some kind of "Universal" type health care, that Anesthesiologists, as well as most doctors, will suffer severe cuts in salary, not to mention all the problems with Medicare in the next few years.

Im not very well versed in any of this, but does anyone have any light they can shed on this subject? Are anesthesia salaries gonna dip way below what they are now in the next 5, 10, or 20 years?

Salaries may not go up ever. Can you still make a good living doing this job? Yes. Universal health care will probably be a big equalizer. Primary care guys might gain a little, we'll probably lose a bit along with rads. But nothing will be sacred, it will affect ALL fields of medicine. I wouldn't pick a specialty based on what could happen in the future. Even if you do 100% cosmetic whatever stuff, when the economy goes south as it is doing now, your work falls off. Just look at Starbucks, they're really feeling it right now as people give up their $4 latte to put gas in. Now what about that $4000 boob job?

 

[IctalSmile]

The way I see it, I'll end up spending 13 years of my life after high school to do a job that is the coolest thing in the world to me. If it allows me to live comfortably after payin off the loans, that's a bonus I guess. (It sure beats buckin bales back on my parents farm!)

Now don't get me wrong, I really don't want to see our salaries fall in the future, but if it causes all the peeps who are lookin at anesthesia residencies in the next couple of years due to a "perceived lifestyle" to think twice, then it's a sacrifice I'll take. (I know you guys and gals who are actually gettin a check don't wanna hear that!)

But this is what I wanna do more than anything. I can't imagine doing anything else. I love checking out post's about the complicated cases you guys have. Jet, Noyac, Copro, Mil, Venty (hope he's doin okay), amyl, ucsfgas, and everyone else, ya'll are all like big brothers and sisters to me.... Not literally of course, but when I read about your cases I get that, "Yes, yes, yes, that's exactly what I wanna do!!!!" kinda feeling. And I love hearing about everyone applying for residencies in the fall, and tips etc. I've learned a $hit ton from you guys. And you guys aren't jerks to students either.

So after going on a tangent, I don't personally think universal healthcare will kill anesthesia, but like Cambie said, if it does hurt us a little, and your in anesthesiology for the right reasons, you still get to go to work and do the coolest thing in the world every day. I'm sure my views will change a bit after I graduate and am trying to get Wachovia off my back, but for right now knowing that I'm gonna have the coolest job in the world is good enough for me.

 

[Strength&Speed]

well if it is...there's always the handgun thread

Ictal--keep up that enthusiasm. and pass me what your smoking too, i need some of it

 

[amyl]

give money to the ASA, your state organization, the PAC... these are the only people working to protect your/my future. others are better funded and organized...we need to rectify this on both accounts. now i know people criticize these groups and justify not giving money to them on that account but they are all we have right now. there is no time or room for apathy.

 

[ucsfgaspain]

To add another point about medicine. I do understand big businesses point of view. Health care costs are skyrocketting. You can't justify 10% per annum increases in health care costs. What gets lost in this whole mess is that physician salaries account for less than 10% of total health care costs. But who has the weakest influence in Washington? MD's? Why? B/C/ pharma, GE (take a look at How big GE Healthcare is), Medical device companies have the money to lobby for their interests. Why do you think the fiasco of the Medicare Drug Bill got passed. That legislation only benefitted one group: pharma. It was a travesty to open up the public coffers to be raided by skyrocketting drug costs. Why is it that we allow t.v. ads to be directed directly to consumers? Why is viagra considered a right? You know if you can't raise your flag pole b/c you smoke and got diabetes...you really have no right to make society pay for you little blue pill so you can pop a wood and have an MI when you try to rut around like a pig.

The whole health care mess is sickening b/c these other interests have skewed the debate to look at doctor's salaries rather than at the whole picture i.e. what's going on in the other 90% of the cost pie. We as physicians are just as guilty though. Why? Cuz most physicians are arrogant bastards. When cost cutting occurs i.e. when Medicare calls for a 10% cut. All the specialties and primary care start backstabbing each other trying to justify why they shouldn't get cut and the other specialty should. It's pathetic.

You know we physicians would like to think that we are smart. But we sure as hell are not in business. My fricking hospital's janitor's union does better negotiation than the AMA or ASA.

Lucky for me...my S.O. was smarter than me. She went tech. She's my insurance policy against universal health care🙂

Peace.

 

[Frank Rizzo]

Why is viagra considered a right? You know if you can't raise your flag pole b/c you smoke and got diabetes...you really have no right to make society pay for you little blue pill so you can pop a wood and have an MI when you try to rut around like a pig.

'have an MI when you try to rut around like a pig'... I can't stop laughing!!! Maybe its just post-call stupidity, but I think this is the funniest thing I have ever heard!

Rizzo

 

[Hockeyguy]

Uh-Oh the sky is falling again!

 

[Taurus]

I think that I'm a realist about medicine. The political climate in the US has changed and nationalized health care is going to happen. Why? Because business for the first time has now come out in favor of a universal health care system. THis never happened before. Where business goes, politicians go. Whether they are republican or democrat.

Believe me who has better funded political action committess the ASA, the AMA, or big business. Dude , we make chump change compared to CEO's.

If you want to be insulated from universal health care, there is a couple of ways:
1) leave medicine and do something else. You've got to realize that medicine is a business but the only business where the product is considered a right. This screws with the very fundamentals of a free market system.

2) go into a specialty that provides a service that is not considered a right..i.e. cosmetics. People are happy to hand over tens of thousands of dollars to look younger or to have bigger boobs. But they bitch and scream when they have to pay a couple of thousands of dollars to save a loved ones life with a CABG. Even though, they brought on the CAD onto themselves by smoking and eating too much.

It's probably not what you want to hear but I think that this is reality.

I know that when I went through college (Stanford) all the smart kids were premed. Now all the smart kids are heading into I-banking and VC. That says a lot.

Have no delusions about medicine. We are widget makers now no different from the guy at GM banging out an engine block. We are better paid but still fundamentally we are the factory makers that provide the product called health care.

Agreed.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have stuck with working or dentistry. Medicine is too *#%&'ed up and it's only getting worse.

 

[Strength&Speed]

if i had to do it over again, i'd rut around like a pig. *(wheres that stinkin pig icon when you need one?)

 

[tncekm]

DNP Link in Signature

Wow, after reading the reader responses in the article you posted, I can see why physicians and nurses butt heads. I never really saw it before, but after going through about 40 posts many nurses really do think they're superior to physicians, despite the enormous difference in their training. 😕 On another note, it was amazing to me to see that the PA's on the other hand seemed to have a much greater appreciation for the training a physician has than the nurses do.

 

[Taurus]

Wow, after reading the reader responses in the article you posted, I can see why physicians and nurses butt heads. I never really saw it before, but after going through about 40 posts many nurses really do think they're superior to physicians, despite the enormous difference in their training. 😕 On another note, it was amazing to me to see that the PA's on the other hand seemed to have a much greater appreciation for the training a physician has than the nurses do.

I think a lot of it comes from the top. The nurses are brain-washed by their leaders into thinking that way, irregardless of no or poorly designed studies supporting their case.

That's why the physicians need to conduct their own well-designed studies to demonstrate where it would be ill-advised to let autonomous DNP's loose on the unwitting public.

 

[jayboyadams]

Thanks for the enlightenment everyone. Its a little depressing to hear how big business seems to run the show in health care, and that our careers/salaries/quality of life depend on the moves they make, not so much on what we do, at least that's what it seems like to me. True, as long as I find something I enjoy, I dont have to be making 200k-300k, although that would be nice 🙂

 

[amyl]

you know what else is bull****: insurance companies etc cover viagra but not birth control prescriptions.