Simply doing nothing means another 27% decrease paid to doctors after already dinging them 20%. The doctors are going to flee the system, seniors will not be able to find doctors, system fixed. No more big losses.


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My personal solution, of course, Mexico. Doctor visits $2.50. World class doctor, served residency in major US hospitals, visits $50 or $60. Medical insurance available if you can afford these little costs.

Mexican health care didn't serve Turnow so well.


Apparently you have a cloistered view.


"There is still first-, second- and third-class medicine"

Turnow, as you remember, died of hepatitis A. I had a neighbor die of the same thing in Aberdeen.



Passing the tests to become a doctor in Mexico is easier than in the USA. The really good doctors almost all have done residencies in the USA or Europe but even these are reasonably priced. Dr. Max, a German physician, does hip replacement for $7500 total cost for everything. Price that in the USA.

The low level doctors cannot even practice in our hospitals but are good for minor illnesses.

I really think our US doctors are greedy. The whole system is broken but if I could just walk into a doctors office and plunk down $50 I wouldn't need insurance. If doctors can take a 27% hit on fees and still be in business, they were charging too much to start with. Methinks they live in their homes on the hills and complain.

All that aside, if doctors are practicing medicine as a business they are going to be tempted drop service to Medicare people. That is going to make Medicare insurance worthless.

And my uncle died of hep.
But according to a couple posts by Turnow on his blog, there was a bit more leading up to his death than that, having to do with medical treatment...and it wasn't "world class" medical treatment.



I'm familiar with members of the medical community, and it's definitely not fair to paint them with such a broad brush. Some appear to be greedy and arrogant but many that I know definitely are not...they have a servant attitude and are not rich by today's standards.



That's the point. Many cannot take that kind of a hit and stay in business...especially the family practice docs and pediatricians. The business and practice costs and regulations are tremendous. Most of the doc I know are trying to provide what you call "world class" healthcare with the greatest efficiency and lowest cost, for themselves and for their patients.

A national electronic medical record system will greatly help in that. For instance, my mother has had one hospitalization and two emergency room visits (in different cities) in the past five months...plus, she has seen her local family practice doc twice. I have kept a record of all the tests and x-rays, ct scans she's had, and have made sure than none of them have been duplicated unnecessarily. In several instances, records were obtained and tests did not need to be re-done. I'm told that certainly isn't the usual case, where patients or family members are that engaged...however it obviously saves money.

And perhaps you're not aware of the family sacrifices that are made on an ongoing basis in physician households. I certainly don't begrudge them their "homes on the hill"...which if you've been in many of them, are pretty normal and not extravagant.

I should not have made a blanket statement. I know some really nice doctors who just try to pay the bills. But, there are the others..



No, it wasn't. If you read his blog he was trying to use the Mexican medicare system. He had the money. He should have picked better because there is better, much better. It might not have saved his life but the surgery would have been professional.



And a guy with a junior college education and some business savvy lives in a mansion. I did mention that physicians who run their practices as a business are going to be disappointed with what is about to happen. My last doctor quit to make more money working for his father.

For the record, I don't think that our doctors need to be fleeced for the sake of our national debt.

There are plenty of examples of outstanding care in Mexico and plenty of examples of hacks and botched procedures in America.

My recollection is, Turnow chose not to follow the medical advice given him. How much longer would he have lived? Who knows. But, assuming he would disregard any American doctor's similar life-style changing advice, he may very well have died here just as soon.