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

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I been hearing this debate off and on for a long time about how if Obama gets universal healthcare to go ( if he gets elected of course)though in the US that nursing pay will be cut dramatically. I would think this has to do with the fact that we would all be working for the government and that there will no longer be competition. There are many people in my nursing class that said they will leave nursing if thats the case. I also talked to several doctors that said the same thing about medicine in general. Im just curious if anyone has some good info about this. Thanks

Specializes in Acute post op ortho.
I'm not sure what you're talking about. Many, many people seem to be misinformed about the President's proposed health care plan (there are resources available that will help clear up this confusion). There will still be private insurance. If you like your current plan, you can keep it.

Here's a website that the President just released this week to address all of the misinformation and fear mongering being stirred up by opponents of his plan.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/

Let's all challenge ourselves to become informed about this important issue.

Didn't he also say that we had to reign in spending & bring home all troops, then turn around & drop a trillion dollars & deploy more troops.......

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There are some days when even at double pay, its not enough. I'm talking a 12 hr shift where I get no break for lunch or even to pee but maybe once a shift. Start with 4 or 5 pts, discharge/admit all day, the bed never gets cold before I have another slip, drug seeker getting morphine/dilaudid q hr, FSBS on all pts, missing meds, multiple piggy backs, dopamine, cardizem, or heparin gtt, chest tubes, drsg changes, bed alarms/restraints, isolation for MRSA, H1N1 or C-diff, pt pulls out IV/Foley/NG. Family with multiple requests are the worst "when is the Dr coming? What time is my fathers test? When do we get to go home? Can you change the sheets, bring another blanket/pillow/socks, Can I have some more water/coffee,ice? I didn't get anything to drink with my meal... I love my job and for the amount of work I (and everyone else) does, a pay cut would be like a slap in the face.

OT but I just had to say..we must come from the same facility.;)

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Specializes in Acute post op ortho.

Does anyone here actually believe that the bill will pass in its current form....no pork....no addendum's, ????? This is the same government that has cost overruns on every project, in every sector.

Get real people. The final law won't even remotely resemble the candy coated version posted on the site.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

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Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.
if we don't get pay cuts are paychecks will still be much smaller since the government will be taxing us through the nose so that we can all have crappy health insurance. i sure hope it does not go through. yes it is sad that so many people do not have health insurance, but a large majority of people choose not to have health insurance; if they budgeted they could afford to have it or they flat out just don't pay for it, but these people are all figured into the statistics.

many younger americans, just out of school, opt not to have health insurance, partly because they can't afford it but partly because they don't see catastrophic illness or injury happening to them. accidents or illnesses always happen to someone else.

for the most part, though, people can't afford private insurance. with many states cutting subsidized health care to adults, they have nowhere to turn. minimum wage jobs don't usually come with benefits. how many people are among the working poor who cannot afford private insurance but cannot qualify for medicaid?

interesting read, btw: "nickled and dimed: on not getting by in america" by barbara ehrenreich, an author who worked entry level jobs across america for a year. opens one's eyes to the problems encountered by the working poor.

i worked my butt off to get through nursing school and now continue to work my butt off as a nurse and feel i have every right to the quality health insurance i have earned.

i also worked my butt off to get through nursing school and i have worked my butt off as an rn for over sixteen years now. like you, i was fortunate enough in my twenties to have a job that offered excellent benefits, including health insurance. unfortunately, i have been unable to find work as an rn, even with experience, but i am lucky enough to have health insurance benefits through my husband's employment. but what happens to the person who also earned his/her quality health insurance but got downsized, through no fault of his/her own and no longer has that insurance? did he/she not also earn that benefit? does he/she not have a right to the most basic health care? btw, when i worked ltc, many of my co-workers, cnas mostly, were unable to afford the health insurance offered by corporate. one night, a cna came into work, her hand bruised and bloody. she had been assaulted by her husband. i told her to go to the er right away to get an x-ray because her hand might be broken. she sobbed and told me she could not afford insurance. no, she didn't drive a fancy car. she didn't wear designer clothes and she didn't live in an expensive house. she didn't smoke, so she didn't throw her money away on cigarettes, and she was thin and didn't spend her money on junk food. she could not afford to take care of her family and pay for health insurance on a cna salary. and she worked as hard as any of the rns or lpns at the facility did. didn't she earn health care benefits or didn't she work hard enough? doesn't she have just as much a right to health care as an rn who made enough to pay for the company's health insurance?

like my mom said yesterday, "well, you wont have to worry about having to make the decision about 'pulling the plug' when daddy and i get older, the government will make that call for you".

being a mom myself, i hate to argue with anyone's mother. but the government will never have the right to decide to "pull the plug" on people. the death squads are figments of the minds of the insurance companies, big pharmacy and affluent physicians and health care ceos who hate to see their profits and salaries cut by even the slightest amount. yes, there are people who value money over human life---and maybe the government does need to step in and educate the public about the realities of end-of-life care. how many of us can share horror stories of little old ladies, fragile souls who were maybe 95, 100 years old, and their families wanted them full code because they saw george clooney do cpr on "er" and it's a miracle, simply a miracle! how many of those families would choose to extend their loved one's lives artificially if they knew the realities of vents, feeding tubes, picc lines? i would not put my elderly parents through that and i have made my wishes clear to my loved ones. if i have the gift of life until i am an old, fragile woman, please do not rob me of my dignity and code me when it's clearly time to let me go.

its just like the quote i use about abortion and taxes, ...just like i am not a huge fan of abortion--but am a fan of women's rights, and like i am a fan of taxes but not the fact that i can not say what pot my money is being wasted in...i have one more to add "i want the government out of my pockets, out of my pants, and out of my health care"

i wish i could designate how i want my tax dollars spent, too. i would prefer that they not be spent on an immoral war that has cost the lives of over 4000 american servicemen and women and the lives of hundreds of thousands of iraqis.

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My husband and I "EARNED" our health insurance for years and years. But then he lost his job (and thus our affordable group health insurance).

Call me crazy, but I have never, in 30+ years of working, minded that some of my tax money went to provide health care to someone less fortunate.

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Then Obama care is just what you need. Fortunately a lot of us are tired of footing bills for people who have never shown much effort to better themselves or for their poor choices in life or lack of saving.

My husband and I "EARNED" our health insurance for years and years. But then he lost his job (and thus our affordable group health insurance).

Call me crazy, but I have never, in 30+ years of working, minded that some of my tax money went to provide health care to someone less fortunate.

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Specializes in Cardiac.
So we should just take the spoon fed Obama website and just assume it is all accurate. Obama has no plan for health care right now except that he and his family will not be a part of it. Anything less than Congress's full participation in the plan first is a no go for me.

You just made me laugh:wink2:...and just proved a point that I was making to a friend earlier...Thank you! I can tell that you're very informed about the issues by your thought-provoking responses. It would be so much more productive if when discussing critical issues, we all attached a reputible source to our responses...I think that would cut down on some of the uninformed and ignorant comments that have been made.

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Specializes in Cardiac.
Then Obama care is just what you need. Fortunately a lot of us are tired of footing bills for people who have never shown much effort to better themselves or for their poor choices in life or lack of saving.

Wow...your empathy is really overwhelming me. Have you bothered to take a step outside of your bubble, lately? The have-nots in this country are not just the stereotypical welfare queens with 7 children in tow. They are people who have worked hard all of their lives to provide for their families and now find themselves without a home, without a job, and without health care.

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It is true, CRNA, that we do end up paying for some who have made poor choices.

But, take me for an example. I came from poverty. My summers as a teenager were spent working in a fish plant to save money for nursing school. While in nursing school, I worked 36 hours a week to avoid student loans and to send money home to my family. Married a guy who also paid his dues.

Then I had a child with special needs and had to stay home. Then hubby lost his job and our health benefits; his new job doesn't offer insurance.

Now that our child has been formally diagnosed, I am waiting for the cancellation letter (they already tried when they saw that our son was 'suspected' of having autism). In the individual market with a pre-existing condition, I can't even imagine what the premium will be. I only know that we will not be able to afford it.

While it is true that some people do not have health insurance because they made/make poor choices, the notion that most, if not all, of the people who do not have health insurance are dead-beats is inaccurate. And I don't think our family is the hard-working exception.

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I agree with CRNA

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I can't imagine anyone complaining of providing health care for a person with special needs (a meth habit or gambling addiction is not special needs). But there are so many people out there capable of working that simply do not because of all the freebies they can receive off the back of taxpayers. Should your child be covered because of autism sure. Should a child born with CP be covered? Of course. Should a person who claims some sort of disability because they are an alcoholic or had 3 kids by the age of 18 be entitled to free health care? No way. If the governement were to take care of the people who actually need health care who are unable to work or provide themselves than that would lower premiums for everyone and unburden an already stressful family life. The trouble with the typical liberal plan is the lack of incentives to utilize the ERs as primary care and lack of incentive to do anything for your self.

It is true, CRNA, that we do end up paying for some who have made poor choices.

But, take me for an example. I came from poverty. My summers as a teenager were spent working in a fish plant to save money for nursing school. While in nursing school, I worked 36 hours a week to avoid student loans and to send money home to my family. Married a guy who also paid his dues.

Then I had a child with special needs and had to stay home. Then hubby lost his job and our health benefits; his new job doesn't offer insurance.

Now that our child has been formally diagnosed, I am waiting for the cancellation letter (they already tried when they saw that our son was 'suspected' of having autism). In the individual market with a pre-existing condition, I can't even imagine what the premium will be. I only know that we will not be able to afford it.

While it is true that some people do not have health insurance because they made/make poor choices, the notion that most, if not all, of the people who do not have health insurance are dead-beats is inaccurate. And I don't think our family is the hard-working exception.

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