If healthcare reform resulted in salary caps of $40k for nurses would you stay?

blondnursey · Jul 22, 2009

NOPE. i dont get paid enough now for what i do.

if they cap it, i will have no other choice but to work in something else.

:twocents:

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Jul 22, 2009

Of course not! That's poverty level!

Now, another question: how much do you think the average US gov't employee makes? The average nurse in a Veteran's Hospital?

My salary does cap now at the community hospital level, but there are no salary caps at the federal level. The Vet Hospital nurses are unionized, have great benes and pension, and no salary caps.

BeeJayCeeYa · Jul 22, 2009

I'm curious: is there a source for the numbers you used? Is there a proposal out there in the initiatives being put forward for capping nursing pay? Or are you being proactive?

VORB · Jul 22, 2009

...would you stay in nursing if your salary was capped at $45k? what about $35k? where would you draw the line?

No. I got into nursing not because I wanted to be a nurse. I went into nursing to find a career -- which I have done. I made way more than that my first year -- something that surprised even me. I have never felt underpaid since starting. I would make a change if this mid-life career choice stopped fulfilling my needs.

roser13, ASN, RN · Jul 22, 2009

"I'm curious: is there a source for the numbers you used? Is there a proposal out there in the initiatives being put forward for capping nursing pay? Or are you being proactive?"

I don't think he/she's being proactive - I think of it as spreading unfounded fear.

BeeJayCeeYa · Jul 22, 2009

I don't think he/she's being proactive - I think of it as spreading unfounded fear.

That is certainly a possibility and I would like to know if that is the case. I don't want to prejudge the OP one way of the other so I asked. I have a couple of questions of my own:

If healthcare reform resulted in an additional 20 million people having access to healthcare, would you stay?

If healthcare reform resulted in the end of million dollar bonuses for insurance executives based on curtailing costs by limiting treatments, would you stay?

If healthcare reform resulted in a patient and his/her doctor making the decisions about his/her treatment as opposed to being limited to what the insurance would pay, would you stay?

If healthcare reform resulted in the end of a polio vaccine innoculation costing over $1,400, would you stay? (Y'up, I have a statement that lists that price.)

Sorry, I am just throwing in some of the flip-side of the coin.

VORB · Jul 22, 2009

'

The point is that the market within which we now work will change with reform. And most would say not for the better.

Three out of three who've answered the question are in agreement. We would not stay.

keithjones · Jul 22, 2009

registered nurse salaries

staff rns working in the united states average a median base salary of $41,642. half of all us rn's are expected to earn between $38,792 and $44,869.

i was just capping them arbitrarily around the median! i am not saying they will ever be capped, in fact i would be seriously stupid to be preparing to go into nursing if i believed my salary would be capped. i envisioned a thread full of people saying... "not on your life" so that if the idea was ever proposed there would be some ammo to say "think again!" seems like you can't play devil's advocate around here without getting called a devil!

the simple truth is demand for nurses will be on the rise for the foreseeable future, recession not withstanding, and the higher demand is the higher pay will go. add to that inflation and the rise in minimum wage.... by the time i retire in 35 years a nurse will easily make 6 figures (and i'm not talking about california where they already do!).

BeeJayCeeYa · Jul 22, 2009

'
The point is that the market within which we now work will change with reform. And most would say not for the better.
Three out of three who've answered the question are in agreement. We would not stay.

And I respect those answers. Although I disagree with the statement that $40k is poverty, it IS hardly fair recompense for the study, work, and responsibilities involved in much of nursing. However, "most would say" is not the say as "the current proposal states". I am trying to find if there are any hard facts behind the original question.

Another hypothetical: would you stay in nursing if your pay was cut by 10%, your malpractice insurance was cut by 75%, your health insurance was cut by 50%, and your workload was acuity-based with no more than 6 patients?

keithjones, thank you for the clarification. I attempted to expound on your original thread by asking what is acceptable "reform"? Is there acceptable "reform"? I am in the camp of "Reform" "The sky is falling!" and nurses know what nurses need better than any politician or accountant so let's have a hand in steering this ship.

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Jul 22, 2009

I would probably go elsewhere. I enjoy nursing, but could get the same money with less pressure and no responsibility for life/death issues. Also no poop and vomit. I might stay if I got a fulltime day position 10h/day, 3 days a week. I doubt that 40K would bring anyone into nursing that had to pay for a 4year BSN.

oramar · Jul 22, 2009

There have been several Canadian nurses that have expressed dismay over the fact that they keep seeing people here saying the same thing. That being that universal health insurance automatically brings lower pay for nurses. It has not been their experience up there in Canada. The truth is that MDs and CEOs fear their pay is going to go down. They are spreading a fear campaign and by making this post you are playing right into it. Haven't you noticed that the current system is already producing pay freezes, unemployment and pay cuts. It is interesting how the people that make the big money in health care usually consider us peons beneath their contempt. But they will try to manipulate us when they need us to get what they want. After they use us we will go back to being lower than dirt.