A Little Disappointment

I attended a physician and student dinner function today (you know: fancy food, wine, schmoozing and lots of speeches in a hotel ballroom), and I was a little disappointed by my encounter with some physicians I met. Don't get me wrong: they were very nice people and do great things with their specialties, I'm sure. What got me was their attitude towards the current healthcare reform movement.

During one of the speeches, the physicians at my table made several disapproving noises and even rude comments out loud, as it became clear that the speaker's position was, with a few reservations, pro-HR-3200. After the speech had concluded, these same physicians turned to us (the students at the table) and began to explain why they were against this bill.

I was interested. What were they so worried about? It turned out that it had much, much, MUCH less to do with their patients then their pocketbooks.

"It's awful. They'll hit you hard," they told us. "If you make more than $250,000 a year, they'll tax you even more. They going to cut reimbursements by a huge percent. They've already cut how much we get. If you're married, it'll be even worse. We used to get $2300 a procedure. They've cut that 75% already."

I am so politically obtuse that I have nothing to say on HR3200, so don't expect me to rant. I do know, however, that as a physician, my main objective is the care of the patient. Of course, I have many, many other reasons for wanting good, affordable healthcare for patients; the aforementioned reason is what I consider to be my "professional" stance.

It made me sad to listen to these physicians, these seasoned doctors who are supposed to be our role models, talking like this: "$$$$$$$$." I suppose that is what I get for believing that medicine is my calling and not just my career.