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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Also Gil, I can't tell you how many friends I had who went into medicine 
because it was the 'family business' so to speak.  I'd bet 25% of 
everyone in my class had at least one other family member also 
practicing medicine.  Now, son and daughters are encouraged to do 
something else.

IMO, the real problem with healthcare and healthcare reform is the 
bureaucracy involved.  Doctors have to have employees dedicated only to 
dealing with insurance claims.  This is not the kind of job growth we 
need.  The system needs to be simplified to reduce costs so that 
everyone can be served affordably.  As it is now, the rich have the 
greatest medical choices, and the services diminish with decreasing 
income.  For those who have no job or are self employed, they can't 
afford doctors at all.  It is not right when someone with no insurance 
is CHARGED a higher fee than someone with insurance.  A fee should be a 
fee and should be uniform throughout a practice.

EarthNSky wrote:
> Gil White wrote:
> > And where are they going to go? Some of the older one's might retire
> > and become cruise ship physicians but most of them are too
> > comfortable.
>
> In many part of the country, there is already a shortage of doctors.  My 
> generation was the last generation where there were still some folks 
> going into medicine for its altruistic benefits.  Mostly, people wanted 
> to make money.  It is the same with law school...only the naive want to 
> go to law school to defend the poor-mostly they go because they know 
> attorneys make good money.  In the last few decades, medical school has 
> added courses in business, insurance, malpractice, etc.  It is a major 
> wet blanket.  It would be interesting to see how many M.D.'s now go into 
> research instead of practice.  (That is what I intended to do many years 
> ago-I wanted to work for the CDC)  Even that, in this day and age, is 
> not pure science, but science based on greed and grant funding, etc.  I 
> have friends who are physicians, and many are talking of retiring early. 
>    Others will become corporate or personal physicians where there is 
> little risk of personal lawsuits. I'm sure some may go into research or 
> even change specialities.  Then, there will be a shortage of physicians.
>
>
>
> No worries though...there are already, and will be more programs that 
> encourage people to go into medicine...low interest loans, grants based 
> on service of a certain location for a certain period of time, etc.
>
>
> > I'm not a big fan of government involvment, but once they step in
> > they have to look at both sides. Providing subsidized health care
> > without controlling what doctors and specialists can charge will end
> > up subsidizing the medical profession at the expense of the tax
> > payers.
>
> You have just described what is wrong with government involvement in 
> this country.  They don't look at both sides(only the side of business) 
> and everything here is subsidized at the expense of the tax payers, to 
> the extreme that future generations will be paying for bailouts and 
> subsidies.  Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs gets their 11 BILLION dollar 
> bonuses on our grandchildren's money, for at least the second year in a 
> row.

--
Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the ocean's depths, MY son is 
protecting your freedom on the USS Key West, currently deployed 
somewhere in the Pacific and/or Indian Ocean.  Go Navy!
EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA