Healthcare reform

Nurses Activism

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What are your thoughts on the correlation between proposed reform and its impact on the salaries or nurses? Include RN's, ANP's & CRNA's...

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I was wondering the very same thing after reading about the senate passing the health care reform early this morning. Does anybody know how this will affect our pay?

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and I meant to say salary OF nurses nor OR. My mistake.

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My preliminary guesstimation is this: Not only will the pay be regulated but the need for mid-level practitioners will skyrocket. I welcome any opinion on this and actually ask that all respond if possible.

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

it's all about supply and demand.

If patients become overwhelming or bedside caregivers, they will have to pay and I mean big time.

I wouldn't want that kind of responsibility for no pay. I'd rather be a perfume girl at Macy's.

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Specializes in Med Surg.

Who knows? The House version and the Senate version are so different there is no telling what kind of mutation will come out at the end. Once everything takes effect and the Law of Unintended Consequences starts to kick in anything is possible.

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Who knows? The House version and the Senate version are so different there is no telling what kind of mutation will come out at the end. Once everything takes effect and the Law of Unintended Consequences starts to kick in anything is possible.

:yeahthat:

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Specializes in Emergency medicine.

When the goverment is in control they will pay the hospital what they want if that is $200.00 a day then the hospital has to pay us out of that. Good luck!!!!

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Specializes in Student LPN.

Wouldn't you think if the demand for nurses goes up, that there would be a lot more grants & scholarships available for ppl entering the healthcare field? Seems to me, this should be in effect anyways, if they are worried about a shortage due to baby boomers, and now government healthcare.

Many ppl, would LOVE to go back to school but simply can't because they can't afford it, and don't want a whole bunch of student loans etc.

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Well, I guess I'll put my two cents in! Definately, most definately, wages will no longer be as competitive. Look at all the other countries/nations that have socialized healthcare. The pay is highly regulated. The point of socializing is to bring everyone on the same pay level, meaning it is very likely for wages to stagger, or more be taken for taxes, in order to equalize everyone. Remember, right now, healthcare is competitive, in a some-what free market (lots of gov't regulations, but still "free market"), so supply and demand means something. With the reform, supply and demand will no longer bring about the competitive wages. Regardless of political views, or party politics, the economy works the same. Under the new reform, the care people receive will be regulated. They can't just choose when/where/who, like they can now. This is true for other countries with similar healthcare. So, there's no evidence that care will increase. More than likely, it will decrease. There will be a lot of red tape and steps to go through to receive specific types of care and care will decrease for elderly. Look at Medicare, it's gov't run and it's one of the worst systems. It's kind of hard to trust anything different will occur.

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Well, I guess I'll put my two cents in! Definately, most definately, wages will no longer be as competitive. Look at all the other countries/nations that have socialized healthcare. The pay is highly regulated. The point of socializing is to bring everyone on the same pay level, meaning it is very likely for wages to stagger, or more be taken for taxes, in order to equalize everyone. Remember, right now, healthcare is competitive, in a some-what free market (lots of gov't regulations, but still "free market"), so supply and demand means something. With the reform, supply and demand will no longer bring about the competitive wages. Regardless of political views, or party politics, the economy works the same. Under the new reform, the care people receive will be regulated. They can't just choose when/where/who, like they can now. This is true for other countries with similar healthcare. So, there's no evidence that care will increase. More than likely, it will decrease. There will be a lot of red tape and steps to go through to receive specific types of care and care will decrease for elderly. Look at Medicare, it's gov't run and it's one of the worst systems. It's kind of hard to trust anything different will occur.

Most people in the US "can't just choose when/where/who" now, because their insurance company controls and dictates that. Also, even the more progressive House bill doesn't implement anything remotely like "all the other countries/nations that have socialized healthcare." Shoot, the Senate bill is little more than a big Xmas gift to the private insurance industry! Don't worry, they (the private for-profit insurance industry) will still be calling all the shots in the US for a long time to come ... :rolleyes:

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I still find that the shortage of nurses is not the lack of new grads, it's the lack of jobs for these new grads. Demand-pull states that as demand goes up, supply will follow. The money that the demand from the additional insured brings with it should allow hospitals and doctors to employ more medical staff, but seeing as there's a shortage now or coming, it won't automatically fill the shortage, just increase the total employed.

I'm not sure this will impact the current wages because I'm not sure of the reason behind the shortage - there's been a few reasons thrown out but nothing concrete.

If the shortage is indeed due to the lack of experienced nurses and not the lack of new grads, I seriously doubt wages would increase, and certainly not starting wages. The only sensible way to utilize the money would be hiring additional nurses to fill the demand, since increasing wages would only increase demand for nursing (thereby increasing the number of nurses unemployed)

However, if the lack of new grads is a problem, then horrah! because wages should increase (more people would be attracted to the profession because of the increase, thereby alleviating some of the shortage), which is the best case scenario and good news for everyone here.

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