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Should the U.S. Maintain HealthCare as a For Profit System?



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No. 10
Old Nov 10, 2008, 02:10 AM

Default Re: Should the U.S. Maintain HealthCare as a For Profit System?
In answer to the posted question of "Should the U.S. Maintain HealthCare as a For Profit System?"
I have talked to some friends in Canada. There are advantages and disadvantages but slowness of diagnosis and treatment is one of the big disadvantages. I have even known some Canadians come to the US for treatment. I wouldn't want to see our healthcare erode and would be afraid it would with major changes i.e. if you mean government funded health care.

As far as the question of salary IMO it is more of a supply and demand causing the gap.
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No. 11
Old Nov 10, 2008, 09:24 AM
Updated Nov 10, 2008 at 09:31 AM by Vito Andolini

Default Re: Should the U.S. Maintain HealthCare as a For Profit System?
Originally Posted by just_cause View Post
Vito - no actually what I support is that the market decides the value of a job or commodity.

If you want to earn as much as a doctor you can either become a doctor or be a nurse conducting business in a fashion where you are valued at that amount. I disagree with the previous poster stating that doctors and nurses should have equal pay as they were both in school for the same length of time. That is ridiculous statement as it has nothing to do with the 'value' of the service you provide.

I'm actually a fan of nurses as you can tell... since I aspire to be one. However, I find it dangerous when people view their salary as a basis of their age or length in school.... you should be salaried based on the value you provide - and that is not judged by us (sadly) but by others
Noted. Actually, I couldn't tell that you want to become a nurse.

As for value, what's sad and aggravating is that nurses haven't yet universally accepted the truth that we need to unionize and get totally tough with employers. We have to do for ourselves what the UAW, Teamsters, AMA (yes, the doctors), ABA (lawyers), etc. did and do for themselves. Short of that, non-union nurses will replace us and we'll feel fortunate to work for only a meal if the economy gets bad enough.

Tim's (I think) argument above about the economics of work and the value of work - I agree, in theory. It's when the cold wind blows through the cracks in my cardboard condo and my kids' bellies are bloated from starvation that I figure I'd better work for whatever they'll pay me. When I'm sleek and fat and sassy, I can choose my pay with a little more discretion.
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No. 12
from Mijourney
Old Nov 10, 2008, 12:46 PM

Default Re: Should the U.S. Maintain HealthCare as a For Profit System?
Thanks to everyone who has posted so far. Very interesting. I'm going to weigh in on the discussion to say that my intention of looking at the wage gap was not to say that doctors and nurses should make the same income. In my opinion, that goes without saying. What I was looking at is the fact that it is widely reported that the wage/income gap is widening between the rich and poor of this country. As a group, physicians tend to do very well in the income category and many are in the wealthy category. Nurses and allied health workers' income fall in the middle to low income category and many are struggling. Some of you have alluded to training and educational backgrounds as affecting the income. Some have also implied that physicians should be more valued than nurses. The subtitle of the question to consider is whether the U.S. should continue to place more value on physicians and high level health care executives and allow them to achieve a level of wealth that is off the charts compared to other health care workers? Can closing the income gap be achieved without a not-for profit health system?
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