Re: Worries about Clinton/socialized medicine? Archived Message
Posted by Doc B on October 31, 2007, 3:20 am, in reply to "Re: Worries about Clinton/socialized medicine?"
Just figured I would chime in with my 2 cents. First off I am not a Hillary supporter nor do I want socialized medicine, but I think Hillary has a ton of bias against her which often obscures what she is really saying. I don't know if Dave J is specifically referring to Hillary's plan when he speaks of what "the liberals" want to do with medicine, but the implication is there. Still there are a wide range of liberal positions on healthcare among the current democratic candidates. Some of these involve true socialism (Dennis Kucinich) while others do not (Clinton, Obama). As a moderate, I find it interesting to kick back and watch the conservatives criticize Clinton's plan for being socialist whereas the leftists think her plan is not fully socialized and she has to defend herself against being the "insurance woman of the year". Looking at it objectively, this is what Clinton's plan does (very briefly-not comprehensive): - It is not a single payer system (all insurance companies continue to exist) - It allows everyone to purchase a public health insurance plan if they wish - It provides tax credits specifically for purchasing health insurance - It makes insurance mandatory So it is a step closer to socialization on the great socialism/capitalism spectrum, but it is not socialized medicine in its pure form. So what will happen to salaries? (That is what you really want to know right?) Well, the number of people on public insurance will undoubtedly increase by a significant margin. This will effectively decrease the average payment for medical services throughout the country (assuming the payment structure is similar to medicare which it appears will be). This will probably neither be quick nor drastic however. In fact, I wouldn't really expect the sky to fall overnight and salaries to suddenly split in half. The real killer is time. I would guess that salaries would slowly decrease (if for no other reason than not keeping up with inflation) over the years as they generally do now because of medicare - only a bit faster than currently. How far down will they go and how long will it take, who knows? I am a bit optimistic though in that I think doctors in this country will always be living comfortably - even if not as comfortably as before. With AA's though it is harder to predict.
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