[berettafan]

Talk to someone who has been/is involved with the business end of a hospital. The customer is the insurance company and where you go, who you see and what you are given is driven by billing codes and what the insurance company will pay. ER visits included.

Maybe some of the docs on the board will contribute to this with what they actually see but IMO socialized medicine, a good version of it anyways, gets rid of the insurance companies and controls/limits the profits available to drug co's. It also ENDS 20 million dollar lawsuits for a ****ed up titty job and things of that nature. The parts of our medical system that screw up the program for everyone. Docs should still get paid big bucks but it ends there.

Do you guys understand that drug reps (some of the dumbest mother****ers on the planet) are earning 6 figures to sell hospitals meds?! WTF is that? How can drug co's afford to pay this? WHY should it be necessary? The answer is it should NOT.

Rick don't worry, if socialized medicine actually does happen here you'll still be able to write a check to a doc of your choosing. In fact you'll have a bigger selection of docs to do so with! It's not a secret that some docs DO NOT DEAL WITH INSURANCE. They are off the grid so to speak. They are so good the don't have to suck of the teat of this monster we call our health care system. You bring them cash and they see you right away. You get experimental treatments if you want and so forth.

Those of us who have more modest means will still be seeing the SAME docs who, we hope, will do the SAME quality of work (maybe better if the system is simplified which it should be since profit centers would be eliminated). The docs won't leave if you offer the same salaries right?

Do you guys have any idea what it takes to run a hospital these days? Any idea how much folks who do so are paid? BIG $$ folks, even in country bumpkin hospitals. And guess which part of their expertise is valued the most..........BILLING MAXIMIZATION!!! That is to say getting docs trained to put the right codes on patient billing to get the most $$'s from insurance co's.