will universal healthcare ( in the usa) cut RN pay?

Bortaz, MSN, RN · Sep 3, 2008

Since everyone like anecdotal stories, here's mine.

I was raised in the dirty south, poor to the extreme. I never once saw the inside of a dentist's office as a child, went to the doctor maybe 2 or 3 times in my childhood, and went to bed hungry 3 nights out of 5.

As an adult, I've never had a job that didn't offer health care coverage. I've never been on welfare. I made the choice between gas for my 1979 Honda Civic and food many, many times. I don't (yet) have a college degree, but I did graduate from HS. First ever in my family, and still just one of 2 that did it.

What I DID do is get a job as soon as I was able, and worked every day. When one job became untenable, I moved on to one that fit better. As I said, I made sure they all offered HC benes. I spent 15 years working on Death Row for the state of Texas prison system, having feces, urine, spit and sperm thrown at my face day after day, living with the scent and burning sensation of tear gas for hours and days at a time. I did all this with a HS diploma, and the motivation to keep my job, make a living, and have benefits.

I'm married to a beautiful nurse, now, and we live pretty well on what I'd saved and what she'd saved and what she makes, while I go to school. About 6 months ago, I bought the first new car I've ever owned. First car that was less that 10-20 years old, in fact.

My parents are still dirt poor (and old and sick - Dad won't last a year), and our daughter is poor, and we do what we can to assist them. That is our responsibility. It ain't yours.

Using poverty as an excuse for failure just makes you a failure.

nursejent245 · Sep 3, 2008

My daughter got pregnant (twice!), unmarried, in her early 20s. The sperm donor (now her husband) makes about $8.50/hr as an assistant manager at Subway Sandwich shop. They live on his salary, and have not qualified for any welfare. His job, as crappy as it is, provides cheap healthcare coverage for his kids. They don't live extravagantly, however. They get by.
There are times when my wife and I have to lend a financial hand, but that's our job as parents and grandparents. I wouldn't want to have to semi-support your kids, though.
"shouldn't have sex" isn't the only way to prevent pregnancy. And despite what Maslow said, people aren't animals with some uncontrollable need to jump in the sack and screw. Well, most people aren't.
A rubber costs 75 cents, and pills (etc) are free at the health clinic.

As I said before "even the best birth controls fail" 75 cent condoms and free birth control included. Asking any Adult to be completly abstinent is just, well let's just say, DOES NOT WORK. I however work my butt off and pay for my health coverage for my kids, so don't need anyone elses help, but I would vote to cover any uninsured or UNDERinsured family who needs help making sure the kids and parents get help with their health needs. Including your daughter and her family. If not just because I am a human being with a heart but because I also pledged as a NURSE to help those in need.

I would also like to add that the differences our views is a great reason that anyone of us that has a strong opinion on this subject, you and I, NEED TO VOTE!!!!!

CRNA2007 · Sep 3, 2008

Any news story you read today is based on opinion. You can certainly look up Obamas votes on the subject. Besides haven't you seen all the newspaper articles and news shows talking about his support of "infantacide" in Illionois?

According to Obama if she is raped she can have an abortion, even after giving birth. Of coure the left always loves to live in "What if" land.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...fanticide.html
That is an Opinion/Editorial.. Heck, in those I could say McCain and GW are homosexuals, and post a picture opf them hugging.

CRNA2007 · Sep 3, 2008

Achievement is punished in this country unless you are a trust fund baby. You guys will make it, because you have had to work for everything and appreciate it more which gives you the drive and determiniation to accomplish something in your lives. I live off student loans while in anesthesia school as well as some money I was able to put away as a travel RN.

Thanks for the reply, but I have a bachelors degree and am a nurse! I can't go back for CRNA because we can't be in school at the same time. It is just hard here, because there are very few jobs (besides nursing) with job openings. Thank God I finished, because we were the "working poor" when I was in school working two jobs to get thru (pharmacy and extern-which are pretty well paying non-degree jobs). We didn't have a phone, only one car, and parents who couldn't help. I also lived with 7 people in a three bedroom house. Even now we both have single moms with no insurance at their crappy jobs and no retirement-so we'll probably end up supporting both of them in their old age.
P.S. I know this is not popular, but I sometimes feel as though we are punished for making good decisions. i.e. in school neither he nor I qualify for assistance because even then we made "too much" I didn't qualify for low income apartments-and the lady told me flat out it was because I was young, single, and had no kids (it is assumed your parents will help.) So because I didn't have kids in high school, and went straight from high school to college, I was ineligible.

Bortaz, MSN, RN · Sep 3, 2008

As I said before "even the best birth controls fail" 75 cent condoms and free birth control included. Asking any Adult to be completly abstinent is just, well let's just say, DOES NOT WORK. I however work my butt off and pay for my health coverage for my kids, so don't need anyone elses help, but I would vote to cover any uninsured or UNDERinsured family who needs help making sure the kids and parents get help with their health needs. Including your daughter and her family. If not just because I am a human being with a heart but because I also pledged as a NURSE to help those in need.
I would also like to add that the differences our views is a great reason that anyone of us that has a strong opinion on this subject, you and I, NEED TO VOTE!!!!!

It's impossible to legislate against all the infinite possibilities in the world. Stop trying to take your argument out to the farthest possible ridiculous extreme example.

And you're right. We all need to vote.

nursejent245 · Sep 3, 2008

Do you work for free?

NO, I don't work for free but I am a nurse and lets admit it we are not the rich working class. Get real if you became or are becoming a nurse to be rich, you are mistaken. This is not a get rich profession. We are underpaid and overworked. That's just a fact but do I volunteer at a local free clinic, the answer is YES! I also volunteer with the Red Cross, because I actually want to help people. I do not expect everyone to volunteer but I choose to personally.

Bortaz, MSN, RN · Sep 3, 2008

Good for you. You're showing personal responsibility. I wish more people would do so.

tfunkrn · Sep 3, 2008

Hi Pat Pat,

Abortion is such a touchy issue.. there are some people that do not believe in using contraceptives, as well. You know, I do not think anyone would support partial-birth abortions, especially if they had to stay in the room and witness it fighting to survive. If someone has carried a fetus long enough for it to be viable outside the womb, then I think it deserves to be given a chance to live.

I am pro-choice, yet there are certain practices I do not condone by some extremists on the subject, both with pro-choice and pro-life. I believe that if a teen-ager is sexually active, use of a contraceptive device or pills should not have to be with parental consent only, either. If the teen feels that she would not be able to talk with either parent, does that mean that this child should not practice safe sex? In my teen years, we had pregnancy and diseases that penicillin could cure to worry about.. Today's teen has HIV to think about, as well.. So this is not just about female teen-agers.. it is about male teen-agers, as well.

I have never heard anyone state that they feel abortion is an acceptable means of birth control.. except, maybe for the use of the 'morning after pill'.

Regardless, this is not the most pressing issue this country is facing. People losing homes, losing jobs, the devaluation of the American dollar, fuel prices.. the war.. These issues are much more pressing for America's survival. Get back to Roe vs Wade after we know whether or not we can rebuild the country GW has worked so hard to destroy.

EMKennedy · Sep 3, 2008

Single payer universal healthcare will transfer the purchasing power of healthcare benefits from the individual-purchasers and the employer-purchasers to the government as a purchaser. Individuals and employers will no longer have to purchase insurance to cover themselves and their families--the government will do that. There will continue to be competition among the national and regional insurance companies to gain business from the single government purchaser, but in time, I can see this will probably be reduced over time and consequently, the profits of insurance companies would be adversely affected. This possible reduction in competition between insurance companies is not something the insurance industry likes to think about, however, business owners in general (small businesses to large corporations) would no longer have to offer health insurance as a fringe benefit to attract the best workers (saving them big bucks every year) since there will be health insurance for all regardless of whether you are employed or not.

With regard to nursing wages, from what I understand of economics, the high demand for nursing staff coupled with the shortage of supply of nurses available should drive up the wages of nurses earned in a U.S. competitive economy. Competition for hiring nurses should not be affected by single payer universal coverage, and thus their wages should not be affected.