<p>hey all,</p>
<p>I was just talking with some people the other day, and the topic of nationalized health care came up. It made for an interesting discussion. I was just wondering what people's thoughts were on the matter.....what are the pros and cons for doctors, hospitals, patients, etc....?</p>
<p>I think that there are certainly reasons for and against it.</p>
<p>The US, if you can afford it, has the best medical care in the world, but in category after category of population health indicators (birth weight, infant mortality, life expentency, etc) we lag behind most of the developed world. And if you can't afford the care, then you are really in a lot of trouble.</p>
<p>I think eventually what will happen is that some sort of system like the one in Germany will develop. If I remember correctly, everyone is required to have health insurance and if you can't pay for it, the government subsidizes it. Either that or there is a standard basic plan on to which patients can pay more for a better plan. The point is that everyone is covered, but there remains choice. How soon such a system is set up is impossible to predict, but i'll put the outside timeframe at about 2030. </p>
<p>Now the problem is that such a plan will inevitably lead to some decrease in physician salary, but unless they also find away to reduce the average debt load for medical students, the only way to prevent a mass shortage of students is for physician salaries to remain high. It's getting to the point where I and a lot of my colleagues are looking at specialties with that in mind...it doesn't make a lot of sense for some of us to go into family practice given our debt load.</p>
<p>I'll try writing some more opinions later.</p>
<p>wouldn't national health care plan monopolize the health care field, or would the government allow some freelance doctors that will take in patients without medical coverage (immegrant, minority). If so then the freelance doctor will provide more competition with national health care, which will cause politicians to come with a plan which produces a win win situation for both patiants and doctors.</p>
<p>I agree with bigndude that a requirement to have health insurance would be an important step in solving the problem, but wouldn't it just create a two tiered system in which the standard of care for those with private insurance as opposed to those with government subsidized insurance would be higher??</p>
<p>haha sorry i meant bigredmed</p>
<p>Medicine is broken here. Though I have always been a laissez-faire capitalist, that kind of approach will not work any longer. I believe we need national health care and we need it soon. Physicians should be well compensated but our priority must be to make certain that everyone has access to decent healthcare.</p>