The health care crisis would solve itself if more Docs would do what Moses did with his practice. Bless you Moses for having cajones.

Island, you guys are in my prayers.

I'm no expert, but I hear enrollment in med school has dropped quite a bit in the last few years. From Moses' run down on what he his practice was like before he tailored it, the job sounds like more stress than worth.

Whether or not someone is for or against it, I truly believe socialized health care will be a reality sooner than we think.

BTW: we pay a hell of a lot of health insurance in our line of work. Goddamned anvils dropped on the head is rough stuff, you know? :D

Payments to doctors used to account for 16% of the cost total cost of healthcare. That figure now varies between 3% and 6%. The healthcare "crisis" is the result of the following three factors (in order)

1) Cost of pharmaceuticals.

2) Record profits in hospitals.

3) New health technology.

Only the lesser of the three actually contribute to our health.

Here's my advice for Island: Tell the hospital you refuse to pay a dime more than their lowest contracted rate. That will likely be 60-70% off. After you agree to a cash price, start your own payment schedule that will not be financially ruinous even if you take 50 years to pay.

Do not be ashamed or allow the hospital to threaten you or your credit. You are simply refusing to be taken advantage of. The hospitals pricing policys are unfair and likely improper.

Look up both COBRA and EMBTALA legislation. The law is frequently on your side.

Moses...You forgot one other contributor...the added levels of "management" and "oversight" added by the HMOs themselves. As a semi-retired management analyst (life is good!!),I figure the entire system has less than 15 years until total collapse and you and other physicians can go back to dealing with the patient without interference. "How much do I owe you, Doc?" "Hey, whatever you think is reasonable, say $40?" "OK..Here's cash. See ya in six months..."

The way it USED to be........I could tell you stories about LabCorp (which I fought for some clients and won....) that would curl your hair, no matter what part of the anatomy you are thinking of....

$900 is better than you get with most insurance plans. For a lot of common operations, I make less per hour than I pay my mechanic.