OT: Is STEM the big lie

[bearishgurl]

Why do Peds get paid so much? Most kids in the US are on Medicaid/Medi-Cal (even if their parents have private insurance).

Is it because so many Peds have retired??

[bearishgurl]

Yeah, scaredy, I LOVE small towns! Your spouse’s job offer is a LOT of $$ to work in a small town!

There are several towns of 800 to 2000 population which I would have LOVED to retire to but the nearest hospital is 23-35 miles away (on icy roads 9+ months per year). The nearest trauma center is 90-100 miles away (road closed to/from it intermittently due to weather, avalanche) and the nearest (major) trauma center with a helicopter landing strip is 350+ miles away.

Even the town with the hospital (16K pop) can’t keep providers there for any length of time. Providers do tend to stay a little longer in the town with the trauma center (20-23K pop, incl surrounding areas).

Believe it or not, those (under 2K pop) towns are mostly inhabited by the over-55 set and all they have is ONE working dentist, ONE (retired) doctor and a (paid and volunteer) search and rescue team to share between them.

I’ve posted here before that if one decides to retire to a bucolic place like these small towns, they have to accept that they have decided to live out the rest of their lives in “God’s country,” and if something should happen to them where competent medical personnel couldn’t get to them in time, well … they died living the life they wanted to lead. I think that’s the mindset of the permanent retirees in those towns.

[SK in CV]

No. I didn’t forget to mention it. It isn’t the least bit pertinent to anything I was discussing.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=SK in CV]No. I didn’t forget to mention it. It isn’t the least bit pertinent to anything I was discussing.[/quote]Well it kind of is because medical workers (namely front-line health providers such as physicians, PA’s and NP’s) now have lower reimbursements from a portion of their longtime patients’ carriers because they were forced onto the state exchanges beginning 1/1/14.

[SK in CV]

[quote=bearishgurl]”We, the People” are now burdened with a healthcare industry which is a burgeoning behemoth of layers upon layers of additional bureaucracy with LESS providers to choose from than before the ACA! [/quote]

I’m pretty sure you mean “fewer” not less. Any evidence to support this claim? Or is it more of your spewed out of your ass bullshit?

[SK in CV]

[quote=SK in CV][quote=bearishgurl]”We, the People” are now burdened with a healthcare industry which is a burgeoning behemoth of layers upon layers of additional bureaucracy with LESS providers to choose from than before the ACA! [/quote]

I’m pretty sure you mean “fewer” not less. Any evidence to support this claim? Or is it more of your spewed out of your ass bullshit?[/quote]

Nevermind. I found the answer myself. It’s more made up bullshit. The US has been adding over 12,000 net additional doctors each year in recent years.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=SK in CV][quote=bearishgurl]”We, the People” are now burdened with a healthcare industry which is a burgeoning behemoth of layers upon layers of additional bureaucracy with LESS providers to choose from than before the ACA! [/quote]

I’m pretty sure you mean “fewer” not less. Any evidence to support this claim? Or is it more of your spewed out of your ass bullshit?[/quote]Yes, “fewer” is what I meant. For starters, I personally have lost three (out of eight) of my longtime providers since fall of ’14. They had ALL practiced in SD for a minimum of 40 years, owned their own medical buildings and just got fed up with the low reimbursements which weren’t enough to keep their staffs employed. All three of their goodbye/referral letters to their patients indicated that their difficult decision had been made due to the effects of the ACA.

Two of them are still freelancing as “expert wits” in court but closed down their medical practices. One closed down his practice and fully retired.

Granted, two of these providers were specialists whom I didn’t see that often.

For a data point, I am just ONE person and, after getting these letters, I personally compared their reimbursements from the EOB’s of my marketplace plan against their reimbursements from the EOB’s of my pre-ACA carrier (Aetna), and the differences were stark. I posted that info awhile back on this forum.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=SK in CV][quote=SK in CV][quote=bearishgurl]”We, the People” are now burdened with a healthcare industry which is a burgeoning behemoth of layers upon layers of additional bureaucracy with LESS providers to choose from than before the ACA! [/quote]

I’m pretty sure you mean “fewer” not less. Any evidence to support this claim? Or is it more of your spewed out of your ass bullshit?[/quote]

Nevermind. I found the answer myself. It’s more made up bullshit. The US has been adding over 12,000 net additional doctors each year in recent years.[/quote]Please tell some of them to move to SD. I’m going to have to search for a replacement doctor by mid-August. The ones who were referred to me by my doctor who closed their office don’t accept my plan … and I have a marketplace “PPO.” The only other marketplace PPO in Region 19 (SD) is UHP, who just came in on 1/1/16 and has already announced they will be leaving by the end of 2016 because offering plans to “we the people” in CA is not “financially feasible” for them.

[SK in CV]

[quote=bearishgurl]Why do Peds get paid so much? Most kids in the US are on Medicaid/Medi-Cal (even if their parents have private insurance).

Is it because so many Peds have retired??[/quote]

Yay! another bg made up fact!!

[SK in CV]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=SK in CV][quote=SK in CV][quote=bearishgurl]”We, the People” are now burdened with a healthcare industry which is a burgeoning behemoth of layers upon layers of additional bureaucracy with LESS providers to choose from than before the ACA! [/quote]

I’m pretty sure you mean “fewer” not less. Any evidence to support this claim? Or is it more of your spewed out of your ass bullshit?[/quote]

Nevermind. I found the answer myself. It’s more made up bullshit. The US has been adding over 12,000 net additional doctors each year in recent years.[/quote]Please tell some of them to move to SD. I’m going to have to search for a replacement doctor by mid-August. The ones who were referred to me by my doctor who closed their office don’t accept my plan … and I have a marketplace “PPO.” The only other marketplace PPO in Region 19 (SD) is UHP, who just came in on 1/1/16 and has already announced they will be leaving by the end of 2016 because offering plans to “we the people” in CA is not “financially feasible” for them.[/quote]

Yes. Your life sucks because you’re you. It isn’t hard to imagine why doctors would run from you as fast as they can. But the rest of the world isn’t like you. And their experiences aren’t like yours.

[bearishgurl]

You don’t have to be insulting, SK. I didn’t see you post any links here to your “anecdotal `evidence.'”

[SK in CV]

[quote=bearishgurl]You don’t have to be insulting, SK. I didn’t see you post any links here to your “anecdotal `evidence.'”[/quote]

Health Insurance Coverage of Children 0-18

It wasn’t anecdotal. If it was anecdotal, I’d be you. I’m not. As of the latest year available, 41% of children 0-18 were on Medicaid and other public insurance. More than 50% are covered by private insurance.

You’re right. I don’t have to be insulting. And you don’t have to be a bigoted racist. So it goes.

[joec]

Having doctors in extended family, I actually hear it’s hard to find work as a doctor in CA due to all the other people who also want to stay in CA as doctors…so the competition is fierce unless you are incredible.

I hear you may make more in smaller towns, but that’s just my limited knowledge in this area…

Also, in terms of salary, specialists make a lot, but even with single payer, I think the guv’ment can cut out a lot of the fat that is wasted now.

As we have many family folks who are doctors, who also make shitloads of money in other countries, I don’t agree that single payer which is pretty much everywhere will put any doctor in the poor house since the one we know are insanely wealthy.

[Coronita]

[quote=SK in CV][quote=SK in CV][quote=bearishgurl]”We, the People” are now burdened with a healthcare industry which is a burgeoning behemoth of layers upon layers of additional bureaucracy with LESS providers to choose from than before the ACA! [/quote]

I’m pretty sure you mean “fewer” not less. Any evidence to support this claim? Or is it more of your spewed out of your ass bullshit?[/quote]

Nevermind. I found the answer myself. It’s more made up bullshit. The US has been adding over 12,000 net additional doctors each year in recent years.[/quote]

Ok, I’m passing on the “identify bullshit torch” to you SK. I’m staying out of this thread. Financially, I’m pretty happy where I am. More is always better. But I figure. Are there people that are making more than me? Yes. Are there a lot of people making less than me? Yes… Ok well, then… Things are fine.

[flyer]

Our daughter, almost 31, (yeah, we were 23 yo parents right after college) is a general surgeon and had multiple offers after residency, so she and her husband were able to stay in CA, as they had hoped.
Demand definitely seems to depend on your area of specialization.

[Author]

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