Nov 07

The Doctors, the Public and Money

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Money & Medicine is one thing that is constantly put together. I hear other students always telling me that they are entering the medical field for the financial factor, and inside I just think about the big mistake they are making. So today as I was reading a few blogs I came across the information below at Mad About Medicine, it isn’t factual data, but personally, it just seems so very true. Most of the public doesn’t consider the different costs a doctor has to go through before he can take his check home and buy a new Rolls Royce *sarcasm*. Becoming a specialized doctor itself is extremely costly itself, in addition to that the insurance, taxes, etc also add up. If one doesn’t have pure passion to medicine..I think its better to just stay out. Anyway now to the table:
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A few postulates about the public:

  1. The public has absolutely no clue how much their own doctor gets paid
  2. The public has no clue how much the average doctor gets paid
  3. The public has no clue how much even the wealthiest doctors make.

A few postulates about doctors:

  1. Doctors have no clue how much the doctor across town is making ( or how much their patients make for their jobs)
  2. Doctors have no clue what their services are actually worth in a free market
  3. Doctors have no clue what their worth is as compared to other professions

But wait, there’s more…

  1. The public thinks that doctors are grossly overpaid.
  2. Doctors think they are grossly underpaid.

Now let’s look at cost:

  1. The public has no idea how much it costs to support and run a medical office
  2. The public has no idea of the cost of training a doctor
  3. The public has no idea of the amount of time their own doctor spends treating patients

Of course, the other side:

  1. Doctors are not the most savvy businessmen and have no idea how to efficiently run a service company *
  2. Doctors think the world owes them forever for the financial and personal sacrifice they made to go to medical school
  3. Doctors think that they are entitled to a huge amount of money for every service they do with the patient.

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Now the doctors not being businessmen thing…I disagree with that when it comes to me personally. Lets see if business techniques can be mixed in with medicine, will find out in around 10 years.

7 Responses to “The Doctors, the Public and Money”

  1. umar Says:

    i dont think they are overpaid. they are there to save ur life, or help you not die. i think thats a priceless service. if there were no doctors we’d beg to give all we have in exchange for medical treatment. now the fact that doctors indeed are there, and our bills happen to be high, we complain. and best of luck with your future in the field of medicine. i think its better to mix medicine with marketing than with business, if you really want to mix something. personally i dont think doctors should be associated with any other profession. with marketing, you could run nationwide television ads about your services 1-800-DOCTORS much like the 1-800-CONTACTS or 1-800-DENTIST. if doctors are practicing business, their minds will be trained to think just “MONEY MONEY MONEY” and where would they leave the patient if his insurance papers didnt go through and hes broke? probably not go on with the procedures and take the next client since they would be losing MONEY and TIME, which are the two most important things in a businessman’s career. but thats up to you, i hope you can balance the two together, and manage the priorities very well.

  2. admin Says:

    You are right, it is more of a call, then I believe it is for the money. One must have passion to enter the field, and it is true that doctors shouldn’t mix money with their passions but I do believe smart business techniques can be used to make a clinic etc..run at a higher level of efficiency with more capital coming in. The fact that some people get carried away by money and materialism is a person-by-person based thing. Some will, some wont..

  3. princess Says:

    well personally its the governments fault because they should provide free health care i mean seriously where is our tax dollars going? In other countries such as UK the government provides free health care. the government should pay the doctors and also cover the fee’s of the patients because one should not need money to save their own life and LIVE!!!!

  4. admin Says:

    There are stacks of laws for doctors, etc. to abide by and which do hold them back from the free market (capitalism). Also personally I believe the problem is also in the insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies who are keeping much of the capital. Anyone who states that a doctor is overpaid is pretty wrong, unless that doctor is some sort of private celebrity high-fi figure. It is sad how little voice doctors actually have in the practice of medicine…

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  6. Blog Review - Medillogy - Found in Blog Reviews and Carnivals Says:

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  7. Accounting Financial Financial Success Says:

    Accounting Financial Financial Success…

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