How much is your pay?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I'm just curious...

Salaries varies from state to state, as well as the years of experience, and the area of specialty, right? How much is your pay per month? :heartbeat :nurse: :heartbeat

Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
Here in Iowa we are at the bottom of the national payscale. We on average get paid about $8,000 a year less than the national average of 47,000 a year. This is RN's I'm talking about.

I got started out at 14.00 an hour when I started as an LPN, when I got up to 17.00 an hour--these were at a LTC facility. When I moved to a hospital I got bumped up to 18.42 an hour. Now I work for a staffing agency and I make anywhere from 22.00-25.00 an hour depending on the facility/hospital that I work at. I still won't make the national average even with the major amounts of overtime that I put in. I won't come close to the $47,000.

So..........If anyone is thinking about relocating and they are wanting a payraise......don't come to Iowa. The hospitals are great, the LTC facilties are great, but the pay isn't. Isn't MEDICARE awesome?

If you were being facetious about Medicare, as a recipient of same, I'd like to comment. The administration/Boards of Directors cleverly blame Medicare's lower (than employer based health insurance) payments for low salaries. Doctors refuse to take Medicare patients, due they say to those low payments. However, they bill the same as they do for all patients. Insurance companies with their HMOs and drug companies profit from premiums charged seniors for their drugs and 20% left that Medicare doesn't pay. That means that part of the bill is still unpaid, and that provides a tax shelter for the billers.

It is true that location plays a part in the amount Medicare pays rural hospitals and doctors, and many are appealing their classification as being urban, rather than rural. The populations of these communities usually equal urban areas.

When I investigated Part D of Medicare, I found that I'd need to pay monthly premiums to all the companies (4) that manufacture my effective meds (having previously found others in the same categories, were ineffective). Those premiums cost more than the cost of my meds! There is no HMO that would provide all of them.

So please don't blame Medicare for your lower salary. Blame the well (obscenely well) paid hospital administrators, and especially the upper level

insurance company CEOs whose yearly pay is in millioms of dollars.

You may not haver a Union which would fight for better pay for you. However, a "single payer " health care plan would lower, and in some cases

eliminate those high administrative costs, and favoritism that exists for medical supply companies, construction and decorator services that appease administrative egos.

Doctors have been working on committees in Washington DC for some time, to present a feasible "single payer" healthcare program, which does work in Great Britain, France, Sweden, Denmark, and many other civilized countries with better morbidity and mortality rates than in the USA. There have been efforts by the insurance industry to discredit Michael Moore's film, "Sicko"

but he's proven the true facts he used over and over again. The factor that caused difficulties in funding those the programs that have been roundly criticized (again by insurance companies, who pull stats out of the air when needed - I've worked for the biggest one and know that for sure) for failing budgets, due mostly to galloping inflation, costly advances in diagnostic and treatment equipment (which every hospital thinks they must have to retain physicians and patients) that could be shared, as they are in other countries.

Yes, the wait for elective/routine/subacute care would be longer , but when the people are paying the costs from their paychecks, and have concern about others whose diseases are more advanced, which is more usual in other countries. We, however are used to having what we want when we want it as consumers....... but the success of Walmart's grocery and other departments illustrates our abilities to pull in our financial belts and accept less, when our pocketbooks suffer. Certainly we are monitoring the miles we travel, due to gas costs. The savings and pride in a successful, well orchestrated healthcare program will offset some venience.

One of my favorite TV sitcoms from some years back, had the insipid

hospital administrator wandering around with models of the new wings he wanted to construct, having constant appointments with avericious

contractors, while needed equipment, staffing and pay were all limited. They used prison inmates doing "community service" for some staff positions. Did anyone sit up and cry foul? No, the program was cancelled!

:nono:

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Specializes in Psychiatrics.

To lamazeteacher:

All I know is that Iowa is the lowest paid of the fifty states. I have read in several articles that Medicare is to blame. I COULD BE WRONG. IF I AM I WILL APOLIGISE RIGHT NOW. I am realitivly new to this profession. I just think that we as nurses put our careers on the line as well as our lives in some instances (for those who work on psych units, ER's, and other units that have high risks. We have to deal with demanding patients and doctors, not to mention the families of these patients and we have to try to do this in a professional manner. Sometimes I think we should be able to put in for combat pay, but of course we can't. In Iowa we have ALOT of rural areas. Sometimes we have an hour or more drive to a major hospital. I guess what I am saying is that I think that nurses should get paid more than they do. I am not just saying me, because what I know doesn't even begin to compare to what 99.9% of you nurses out there know. Just because Iowa is in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean we should be ignored and underpaid. We have all the disease and all the major problems that all the major cities do too.

But this is just my opinion......which I guess doesn't account for much.

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By the way, Sweden's taxes are WAY HIGH, for the single payer. So, the grass isn't always greener, just different grass. I have been friends w/ a girl in sweden for 30 years, and I know it isn't all it's cracked up to be, the single payer thing. So, let's not be too quick to judge, this thread is about what we get paid across our country.... Lets stick to the subject, not bring in politics. I am shocked at such a different level of pay for RN's all over USA.

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Elizabeth8503RN...... your opinion counts for alot, don't sell yourself short and don't let others make you feel wrong for your opinions. You know more than you think.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.

Dear Elizabeth 850:

Your opinion is worth a lot to me. It opened up a whole new avenue of realization for me, that not only are doctors grousing about the lesser amount they're paid by Medicare, but that trend is passed on to others healtrh care propfessionals about their salaries, as well.

The point I've always believed, is that seniors paid into Medicare their whole working lives, and just as it starts to bring them benefits, rumors of it going bankrupt and causing all kinds of misery, begin. At the same time, you hear that since government "runs Medicare", then any government run healthcare program will be just like it - doomed and with poor fiscal planning.

Who knew that pharmaceutical companies would claim that the enormous prices they charge for newer medications would be blamed on the cost of their research to discover them (when that research was actually funded by you and me, by the taxes allocated to research for them That's known as "double dipping", and should be corrected by the IRS (whose employees shudder to think of the time and legal expenses involved in retrieving what they owe, and giving up their luxurious ways of life!). Then the drug companies would pay more income tax, lower the prices of meds, and stop posing as poor hard working souls, as the CEOs drive their Bentleys and buy up islands in faraway places for their pleasure. When faced with their heartless deprivation of those in need of their products, they moan, "that's capitalism", the most revered democratic financial process of acting like Robin Hood, while robbing the poor of their health, and spending their wealth on lobbyists and politicians, to keep their status quo.

How I wish that moniues given pharmaceutical research would be tagged with a proviso that 20% of the income derived from the sale of new approved meds, go to those who are uninsured who need to regain their health by taking them. Another 20% should be applied to the education and monitoring of results and compliance of those taking them. (Especially diabetics.)

Blue Cross assigned higher co-pays for injectible meds (like 40% more), for those with MS (like my daughter) taking Copaxone. However, no such hike in cost was assigned to insulin dependant diabetics, due to the shear number of them who (hopefully) would rise up in protest. and rock their boat big time, as they would have been within their rights to do.

It's the smaller number of voices that bear the brunt of big businesses' miscalculations.

I strongly urge you to have discussions with others with whom you work, to gain some equity in pay! Just because you've always had the least pay, doesn't mean that it will always be so. Ask Nurses in neighboring states who were in your position and now earn more, to come to talk to you (or arrange a "conference call") about how they got that. Let us know how that goesw. We're here to support each other!!!!

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This is not the subject of this thread, and may need to be placed in another one, possibly entitled "Unions: Blessing or Curse?".

What made me respond, is that no specifics regarding the union's involvement have been given, like what the wife or others at the facility where she works, earned previously, without a union, and what the earnings, working conditions or other issues became afterward. Also why is her husband writing for her?

I've worked in both union represented and non union involved circumstances, and can tell you that I earned much more in better conditions when in a union.

The union was usually the state's Nursing Association (California), and politics can be difficult to deal with, as they can reflect the "You got your request last time, now I want mine".

Certainly the union represents its own interests as well as the workers'. It wouldn't exist if there wasn't a win-win-win reason.:twocents:

I stand by my previous statement regarding unions. It seems you have a problem with opinions differing from your own. Not surprising coming from a union member. Not used to having individual thoughts are you? I post because I have an interest in my wife's career. Is that ok with you? She would tell you the exact same thing I did. Her union HPAE has done nothing for her except confiscate her union dues. She can (and will) work at a non union hospital in the future with better working conditions and a better salary. And without the union dues and politics.

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If you were being facetious about Medicare, as a recipient of same, I'd like to comment. The administration/Boards of Directors cleverly blame Medicare's lower (than employer based health insurance) payments for low salaries. Doctors refuse to take Medicare patients, due they say to those low payments. However, they bill the same as they do for all patients. Insurance companies with their HMOs and drug companies profit from premiums charged seniors for their drugs and 20% left that Medicare doesn't pay. That means that part of the bill is still unpaid, and that provides a tax shelter for the billers.

It is true that location plays a part in the amount Medicare pays rural hospitals and doctors, and many are appealing their classification as being urban, rather than rural. The populations of these communities usually equal urban areas.

When I investigated Part D of Medicare, I found that I'd need to pay monthly premiums to all the companies (4) that manufacture my effective meds (having previously found others in the same categories, were ineffective). Those premiums cost more than the cost of my meds! There is no HMO that would provide all of them.

So please don't blame Medicare for your lower salary. Blame the well (obscenely well) paid hospital administrators, and especially the upper level

insurance company CEOs whose yearly pay is in millioms of dollars.

You may not haver a Union which would fight for better pay for you. However, a "single payer " health care plan would lower, and in some cases

eliminate those high administrative costs, and favoritism that exists for medical supply companies, construction and decorator services that appease administrative egos.

Doctors have been working on committees in Washington DC for some time, to present a feasible "single payer" healthcare program, which does work in Great Britain, France, Sweden, Denmark, and many other civilized countries with better morbidity and mortality rates than in the USA. There have been efforts by the insurance industry to discredit Michael Moore's film, "Sicko"

but he's proven the true facts he used over and over again. The factor that caused difficulties in funding those the programs that have been roundly criticized (again by insurance companies, who pull stats out of the air when needed - I've worked for the biggest one and know that for sure) for failing budgets, due mostly to galloping inflation, costly advances in diagnostic and treatment equipment (which every hospital thinks they must have to retain physicians and patients) that could be shared, as they are in other countries.

Yes, the wait for elective/routine/subacute care would be longer , but when the people are paying the costs from their paychecks, and have concern about others whose diseases are more advanced, which is more usual in other countries. We, however are used to having what we want when we want it as consumers....... but the success of Walmart's grocery and other departments illustrates our abilities to pull in our financial belts and accept less, when our pocketbooks suffer. Certainly we are monitoring the miles we travel, due to gas costs. The savings and pride in a successful, well orchestrated healthcare program will offset some venience.

One of my favorite TV sitcoms from some years back, had the insipid

hospital administrator wandering around with models of the new wings he wanted to construct, having constant appointments with avericious

contractors, while needed equipment, staffing and pay were all limited. They used prison inmates doing "community service" for some staff positions. Did anyone sit up and cry foul? No, the program was cancelled!

:nono:

I have many friends from Canada who come to the United States for their health care rather than wait months for simple medical procedures back in Canada. Same story in the UK. The single payer system is a failure and the fact that you believe a propagandist/proven liar like Michael Moore makes you lose all credibility.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
I stand by my previous statement regarding unions. It seems you have a problem with opinions differing from your own. Not surprising coming from a union member. Not used to having individual thoughts are you? I post because I have an interest in my wife's career. Is that ok with you? She would tell you the exact same thing I did. Her union HPAE has done nothing for her except confiscate her union dues. She can (and will) work at a non union hospital in the future with better working conditions and a better salary. And without the union dues and politics.

Good Luck.

I don't recognize the name of the union to which you say your wife belongs, and I doubt that better wages are possible without one. Believe me, I'd join a union this minute (I am not currently a member of one), if I thought it would deal with age discrimination.

The last 3 jobs I got, just before "benefits" wouild be in effect, I was asked my birth date "for the insurance company", even though I said I didn't need health insurance, as I already had that, yet they processed me for it, needing my birth date. Insurance companies charge employers more for seniors' health insurance. (20 years ago when my friend who owned his own business turned 55 years old, and had Blue Cross coverage for his employees, he was charged $1000 per month more, due to his age.)

After my employer knew my birth date, and obviously didn't want to pay the extra premium, I found myself in a maelstrom of curious events.... like being told to "pass" a new employee without a drug test, which all others had to have before beginning work (I was the Employee Health Nurse for a large multi-facility network, Sutter Healthcare Foundation). I refused to sign my name to a falsehood, and was fired. I was allowed to resign instead, but when I applied for a Home Health job, I didn't get it, as they were told that I was fired!

So you see, I do have individual thoughts. :banghead:

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Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
What job do you work where you can get 8 weeks off a year?

Or is that a school district job where you get the summer off?

how aobut any job in the NHS where the full time leave package STARTS at 27 days (7.5hr) leave + 8 (7.5 hr) public holidays ... and that's pure leave as sick pay is enitrely seperate ...

this is where making straight comparision's is hard as terms and conditions come into play as well as hourly rate ...

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Specializes in Psych , Peds ,Nicu.
Good Luck.

I don't recognize the name of the union to which you say your wife belongs, and I doubt that better wages are possible without one. Believe me, I'd join a union this minute (I am not currently a member of one), if I thought it would deal with age discrimination.

google search HPAE = The Health Professionals and Allied Employees

.

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Better wages aren't usually available without a union. It is pure ignorance that moves people to claim this. In every industry that has unions the workers benefit MORE than the employers. Period. Only in a small or new union that has not really gained any power would pay and benefits be lower.

The thing is... you don't always NEED a union. Not all employers are bad or greedy. MY facility shot down a union because they pay us about 20% more than anyone else in the area already and our bosses are awesome. Of course it is a nonprofit so no greedy shareholders to worry about. Our benefits are already good and I would feel kinda bad getting a union in there to put the screws to them. They don't really deserve it.

However, in places where the employers are greedy and profit driven unions are needed. Plain and simple.

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Originally Posted by chuckc viewpost.gif

Just under 50 an hour, with evening shift differential, 1 year experience.
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Bay area, california

I'm also in the Bay Area. Is this with the union?

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