Doctor quits over malpractice costs

[PLC1]

I'd like to think this is an isolated incident, but I doubt that it is:


Rx for money woes: Doctors quit medicine

After 24 years, "I'm working longer hours than ever," she wrote. "Insurance payments for patient care have stayed virtually the same for the last 15 years, while the cost of doing business, including health insurance, staff salaries and supplies have risen."

The rising cost of malpractice insurance, particularly for her specialty, was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"My malpractice insurance was $125,000 a year, and going up," said Wah. "The only way to get the extra money was to cut back on my salary."

After years of school, one would think that a doctor would be free to practice the art of healing and be well paid for it.

One would think.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

while I am sure someone will cry for reform on payments for medical screw up...I wounder how many billions in profits that insurance company made over that time each year....

 

[Pidgey]

It's said that insurance companies tend to make their money from the "float", which is the time between when a premium is received and when a payout is made on behalf of the insured. During that time, the insurance companies invest the money in high-grade securities. Looking at their financials (AETNA and the like), they typically have made from 3-4% net profit based on revenues. Proceeding from there, it's most likely that they've actually heretofore supplemented their payouts with money earned through investments.

However, given the extreme downgrading of many investments these days, and, worse, that many investment portfolios aren't "performing" (forget what you think you see in the stock market), there might well be many of them (large insurance companies) that are actually losing money at this point instead of the other way around. I need to dig deeper into a few companies' financials...

Walmart and Microsoft have tended to a do a h*lluva' lot better than the insurance companies, by the way.

 

[BigRob]

while I am sure someone will cry for reform on payments for medical screw up...I wounder how many billions in profits that insurance company made over that time each year....

In pure profits? Probably not all that much.

 

[ASPCA4EVER]

I've often wondered the reason that there weren't any 'CAPS' nationally that could be awarded for 'PAIN & SUFFERING' if a doctor was found GUILTY of malpractice and intentional harm.

I mean; there have been as many wide diverse amounts of juror awards of $$$$ for 'Pain & Suffering' across this country, and that begs the question of how does one weigh the pain & suffering for one type of court case against another {does that mean that this patient was worth more $$$$ award then another in a different location in America} ??? And just because a jury awards the $$$$ amount to be handed over doesn't mean that the defendant ever has to pay the adjudication...(ie. O.J Simpson to the Goldman family isn't an isolated case by any means}

 

[Mr. Shaman]

After years of school, one would think that a doctor would be free to practice the art of healing and be well paid for it.

One would think.

"Well paid...".....compared to WHO?????​

LAMB: A GP, a general practitioner, a family doctor, makes, I don’t know, $140,000 a year on average, something like that?

REID: Yes, a little higher than that in America. Yes. Yes.

LAMB: What does as GP make in France?

REID: Sixty thousand. The fellow I spend a week with makes 60,000, and that’s about average.

LAMB: Japan.

REID: He probably makes $80,000 a year.

LAMB: Germany.

REID: She makes closer to 100,000, maybe 90,000 a year.

LAMB: You point out often that their education’s paid for by the government.

REID: Yes, most of them - in most countries medical school is free or if there is a tuition your local government pays. There are malpractice premiums. I asked this doctor - the doctor I spent time with in Japan has a clinic with nine beds in it. He’s running a hospital. And I said to him what’s your malpractice premium? You know, any doctor in America knows that off the - gosh, what is my malpractice - I have no idea. He calls the office manager. She says, well, that’s included in the dues for the Japan Medical Association - $30 a month. That’s his malpractice premium. And he’ll never be sued. So they make less, but you know their cost burden - they don’t have a big loan to pay-off when they start. I think the fundamental difference is their expectations are lower. Doctors in France and Germany and Japan don’t expect to make 500,000 a year and drive a Lexus to the country club. It’s not their - they want to help people. They’re people who like biology, they like science. You know, all doctors everywhere I’ve met, in our country, in other countries, complain that they’re not paid enough. Everybody says that. But they’re comfortable middle class people and they’re comfortable with that and they’re helping people - you know, they’re curing illness. That feels pretty good.

LAMB: So what about the doctors? I mean, shouldn’t they be allowed to make - I mean, some of them make a lot of money, but a lot of them just make that - I mean, they make - I mean, a lot of money in this system compared to others, but very few of them make the several million dollars a year.

REID: That’s right, not many do. But docs are - doctors do very well in America. They’re the best paid doctors in the world, there’s no question about it. And -

LAMB: Are they the best doctors in the world?

REID: They’re certainly the best educated. But, you know, our results, as I say - let’s see, in terms of recovery rates from major disease, we’re kind of mediocre. Neonatal death, I told you we’re the worst of all the rich countries. Yes, so we have very good doctors, very well trained doctors, a lot of high-tech medicine. But we’re about equal with the other countries. I don’t think we’re remarkably better.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

I'd like to think this is an isolated incident, but I doubt that it is:

Actually....it's an old STORY...one told by insurance-companies, on a fairly-regular basis. You merely need to be old-enough to recognize that....​

JULY 30, 2002​

"The focus of Senate Republican leaders and President Bush on rising medical malpractice insurance premiums is misguided because insurance premiums for homeowners, car and health insurance have also increased at about the same rate, according to a Public Citizen state-by-state study released today.

The study contends that doctors are victims of in$urance companie$ that made bad investment and pricing decisions — rather than lawyers representing victims of medical malpractice. The study analyzes insurance rates in 21 states, showing that rate hikes are common in many types of insurance.

"Blaming rising malpractice premiums on a litigation ‘crisis’ is a smokescreen by the insurance industry to cover for the industry's investment losses and price gouging," said Frank Clemente, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch. "Nothing is happening with medical malpractice premiums that isn’t happening in other insurance arenas."