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

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I'm not asking for a debate about wether or not healthcare reform would result in salary caps, I just want to know would you stay in nursing if your salary was capped at $45k? what about $35k? where would you draw the line? for arguments sake lets say advanced practice nurses got a $10k premium.

NO,NO no way! In my area 40K is poverty level.

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no way. I make more than that working 24 hrs a week. I'd switch careers!

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How many of us would vote now for Obama? I would pass on the salary cap myself. Thanks but no thanks Mr. President to socialized healthcare.

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Specializes in Oncology.

I love nursing, but I like being able to pay the bills, too. I wouldn't be able to comfortably pay my mortgage at $45k. So no, I wouldn't.

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Specializes in NICU Transport/NICU.
We should be discussing facts, not opinions. You are entitled to your opinions, but don't pass them off as facts. The discussion on health care is too important to be clouded by opinions with no facts to back them up.

Dude! You need to chill out a bit. The original post never made one single attempt to pass off anything as fact. It was a hypothetical question, which he/she has every right to ask. If you don't like it, then don't read the thread.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

I would not stay. And I would wonder about those who do

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40 thousand sounds pretty unrealistic. That's $19 an hour. Starting pay for a newly licensed nurse in my conservative section of North Florida is over $21 per hour with full benefits and increases to 27 over time.

So would I leave if this Rush Limbaugh version of healthcare was capped at let's say $55K or say $26 per hour. No, I'd stay. With overtime and the price of a reasonable 3/2 house at about 150,000 in my area I could definitely make it and then some.

Thing is if other progressive agendas, like right to organize a union, come to my corner of the planet we won't have to worry too much about sub-standard wages. Even without the right to organize a union if everyone starts to leave, supply and demand will kick in.

In short. The question only serves to inflame tempers.

As a practicing Christian, I'm 100% in favor of providing health care to the entire planet.:twocents:

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Specializes in ICU, nutrition.

I would leave. I already make more than that and with 3 kids and being the only one working, we are barely making ends meet.

We are starting our own business so hopefully our financial situation will improve, but if it does, it won't be because of things getting better at my job. We are currently being asked to do more with less, hundreds of unfilled positions were eliminated, and overtime in my department is a thing of the past. The amount of extra education I have to do on my own time in order to be able to pick up the occasional shift in another department is not worth it.

I have a backup plan just in case Obamacare screws my career!

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I'm on Medicaid now, and I really wish I wasn't. I need referrals to see specialists, I can't see any doctor I want because not all of them accept my insurance, and certain medications are just straight up not covered, so I have to settle for a different medication that might not work as well for me. It blows.

Conservatives will hop on this and say "ha! That's PROOF that the gov't can't get health care right! That's how it will be for everyone!" No, actually. It won't. The reason why Mediciad sucks is because the majority of people on Medicaid are poor, and since no one in congress gives a damn about the poor, they're not going to bother fixing a busted system that only helps the poor.

If it were to affect EVERYONE, however, then you'd see stuff getting done. No one cares about anyone else's plight until they themselves are in that situation. People who have never had to rely on the gov't won't support gov't programs. But when they lose their job and find themselves needing to get food stamps or health care, you bet they hop on any program they can get on!

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To answer the question. No probably not. However, I have no idea what else I would do. There are not exactly many jobs out in the market for the moment. My husband was recently laid off and I feel very blessed that I can support our family on my one income. While I do not like fear tactics, I think that nurses making less money with this so called health-care reform is a very real possibility. While they are no longer using the term "socialized medicine" it still to me sounds as such. I think the most important thing that we can do as nurses is to get educated on the subject and form our own opinions. And for those nurses who feel like they would stay for less pay...I would love to know where you work and what you do. I have been a nurse for four years and just now feel that I am being compensated for things that my job requires. But I suppose that overtime that somehow supply and demand will have to take in effect. The nursing shortage is not a hypothesis, it is the real thing. And I am sure no one will consider a career in nursing knowing that you will not be able to make a comfortable living.

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As a 'new' nurse I am making about $80,000 per year. I am barely making it. There is no way I could live off of $40,000 per year. I would be forced to look for work elsewhere.

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no-I would open my own business. $40,000 to be an RN in 1988-yes, $40,000 in 2009-no.

otessa

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