Quote:
Originally Posted by bahbahmickey
I was going to say something about me paying my taxes so screw lazy and poor doctors, but since you said what you said I guess I cant.
Not sure if it was this thread or some other one where we discussed the absurdity of farmer subsides, but the same logic is in play here. No reason to compensate people for doing work in less desirable areas (or industries in the case of the farmers). Either someone will come along and take the job w/o the extra money, the town will come up w/ the money, the doctor will charge more for everything or the town will go with out.
In a typical market this would be true, and it is true to some extent. Doctors who work in butt**** texas get paid a ton more than doctors who work in San Diego. However, this is true only for
specialists while primary care physicians do not make nearly as much. This has a lot to do with how medicare/medicaid (the largest payer of doctors in the nation by leaps and bounds, and even more so for poor people, which is where these shortages are focused) pays a lot more for procedures than for doctors visits. For example, a doctor who spends 1 hour visiting with you will get paid around 100-200 bucks depending on a few things. However, a 1 hour surgery can get thousands.
Specialists in rural and poor areas with shortages get paid more by keeping a higher percentage of insurance payouts, and this can happen because insurers pay a ton for procedures (which leaves more room for overhead costs). Primary care physicians otoh, have already hit that maximum pay structure built in medicare/medicaid, so moving to work in rural or poor areas isn't a financial boon.
In a truly free market, there would be a correction due to supply and demand. However, due to the various ways our health care laws are setup, the incentives that normally alleviate a shortage are not created and in fact, reversed, exacerbating the shortage.
Last edited by ikestoys; 02-13-2013 at 08:26 PM.