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Originally Posted by Bonnevie
my two cents---because it costs money! medicare keeps cutting reimbursements to doctors and hospitals. staffs are cut to save money. the smartest people don't see becoming a doctor as a good return on their considerable investment of time and money. everyone is doing more with less and yet patients are demanding more and better but don't want to make lifestyle changes for their health. just watch tv--don't modify your diet, take Nexium or a statin. costs are skyrocketing.
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You are basically correct. Medicare has been giving doctors a 1-2% fee increase for the last 8-10 years, but costs go up 4-5% per year. Hospitals are worse off because of complex regulations that actually take back some of the money that was paid to them. Since hospitals are labor intensive, that is where the cuts are made. Less of our brightest young people are attracted to medicine due to the years involved, the huge loans they need, and the constant threat of litigation, as well as a media that seems to continually portray doctors in a negative light----you hear about the huge malpractice award, or the license revocation, but not the tens of millions of beneficial encounters.
As far as patient compliance goes, Klatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still) put it best when he said "People do not change until they are on the precipice" The health conscious among us already eat right and exercise, but most of the rest won't change until they have a heart attack, or a diabetic complication