started this as comment to e:ajay's post, but it got too long.

He said something about a restaurant in SF publishing on its menu that there is a 4% surcharge to subsidize the employees' healthcare.

A few disclaimers:
yes, I know the US healthcare system is not perfect
yes, I know healthcare is expensive
yes, I know a lot of people can't afford it
yes, I feel badly for them, and wish there were a good solution

But why do we seem to think it's so horrible that doctors want to be paid? That doctors should just work for free all the time?

I do believe that ACCESS to healthcare is a 'right'. I.e. if you are bleeding and go to an emergency room, you should not be turned away due to race, income, insurance, etc.

However, I don't like the attitude that we seem to have that it should just be FREE. I think if you go to the ER, bleeding, and get treated, and don't have insurance, then it is not unreasonable to ask you to pay your bill.

It might not be PC to say so, but medicine is a service industry, to an extent. But somehow we treat medicine differently. We feel entitled.
I.e. if we call the plumber and wake him up in the middle of the night and he comes over and fixes our leaky pipes, we don't seem to have any problem when he sends a bill. We needed service, he provided it, we pay for it.

But somehow we think it's wrong for doctors to do that.

There's also no other industry I can think of off-hand where the gov't sets all the fees.

People seem to think doctors play golf all day and make millions. And I'm just so sick of hearing people bitch about it b/c it is so not true.

When I finish training, I will be 200K in debt, not to mention 8 years of school plus 6-8 years of residency training, which are 80+ hour work weeks for not much more than minimum wage. I basically put my whole life on hold for my career.

Yes, it was my choice. No one made me do it. I am not saying that. But I'm just saying that I should not be made to feel badly for wanting to be paid. After all, we have no problem paying athletes millions to PLAY GAMES, and we just call Bill Gates a "smart businessman". But in an effort to contain rising healthcare costs, we seem to cut the only factor we can control- doctors' reimbursements. Doctors can CHARGE whatever they want. But they more or less HAVE to accept what insurers pay them. I can charge $1000 for some procedure, but if medicare says they're only going to pay $100, I am shit out of luck, and I have to take the $100 and say "thank you". No other field in the world would put up with that.

This all came up b/c I talked to my mom yesterday... she said she had lunch with some girlfriends, and somehow they both started bitching about healthcare. One woman (who is very wealthy) was talking about how she worked the system to get her daughter's daughter on medicaid so her meds are free. Even though they can MORE THAN afford them. Then the other woman was bitching about doctors charging so much. This after she called my father AT HOME, on NEW YEAR'S DAY, b/c her son-in-law had tripped and fallen, drunk, and cut his face, and "needed" a plastic surgeon. So, my dad goes to their house, and sews him up. And no one every says 'thank you', let alone offer to pay anything.

So finally mom couldn't hold her tongue any more, and pulled out some number (that I have never heard, that really astonish me.) She said my dad (who is by no means a big time fancy doctor- I swear) had 200K in accounts receivable last year that he had to write off. TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS in lost income, b/c people just don't pay their bills. think they shouldn't have to, so they don't. And there's not much he can do. Sure, he can send them to collection, but that doesn't bring in much of it.

I just find it incomprehensible. We have no problem paying teachers/garbage men/cops [hell, we're supposed to "pay cops as if our life depends on it", right? and subsidize their cosmetic surgery?], etc. But doctors are greedy pigs if they send out bills?

And please don't take this as me pulling a 'poor little rich girl' thing, b/c that is NOT what I'm trying to do.

Ugh. sorry. I know this is very one sided and skewed and biased, and I'm sure some of you will have good counter-arguments and I'm more than willing to listen, but the whole thing just infuriates me.

just an update, since it's been a while.

I'm back at Gates now. It's busy, but more annoying busy than good busy. I seem to be working 6a til 8 or 10pm more often than not, and i'm on call every other night, So it doesn't leave time for much else.

and I'm interviewing, which is stressful b/c I'm trying to do it "secretly" since work is very stingy with the days off. (i.e. we get five days total, including travel days, to go on interviews. And I have 14 interviews. They must not be very good at math.)

But I was at Yale yesterday...
Sigh...
I miss it.

The airport in new haven is a joke- it has like 2 gates and 'baggage claim' is like a hole in the wall they throw the bags through. So flights are super expensive. So I thought I was super brilliant when I decided to fly into JFK for cheap on jetblue, and then rent a car for $40 (yay priceline) and drive... That ended up being way more of a PITA than I expected.

But I made some calls, and managed to stay on campus (in my old college (i.e. dorm) no less!)- for free.

And it was so bittersweet.
I loved college. And it was so great to be back on campus- but also sad to realize that it's not "mine" anymore, and never will be.

But anyway, so I interviewed, and was done at 2 but my flight wasn't til 8, so my mom/dad/brother drove to town to have lunch with me.

They're the best.

We went to Pepe's for pizza, since my dad insists in the best pizza in the world, and he is totally willing to make the 2 hour (each way) drive for it. And I might have to agree with him. People are FANATICAL about this place.

It IS pretty damn good though... New Haven style (i.e. thin crust, slightly charred, cooked in a coal oven at 800 degrees). They're most famous for their white clam pizza, and will almost turn up their nose at you if you want cheese, even on a red pizza. No offense, but it kicks Buffalo pizza's ass. There's usually an hour or so wait, but we totally lucked out and walked right in.



So I finally got home around 1030 last night, and stayed up til 2 to finish a stupid presentation for this AM.

So... that's my exciting life. Work, work, work, interviews, sleep, and maybe some pizza.

(see, that's why I'm not posting much. boooorrrring!)

Unfortunately, I have had this song in my head all day.
I especially like the burning cross, for added drama.