tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3421703365822811182.post5302892482479331360..comments2023-09-05T05:46:48.880-04:00Comments on From Talbots to Target: You're not what?Betsy, short for Elizabeth, formally known as Estherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689307061005439040noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3421703365822811182.post-43146889590245251012008-04-05T18:18:00.000-04:002008-04-05T18:18:00.000-04:00I am married to a doctor who desperately wants to ...I am married to a doctor who desperately wants to get out of medicine because the current state of affairs. About 79% of the bills he sends out are unpaid. That includes the uninsured. The people that he treats from 8 pm to 6 am are on average 75% uninsured. The doctors continue to see these people because they don't have any choice. The insurance companies continue to grow larger and larger while the doctors work harder and harder for less money and more liability. At some point, and you have already experienced this with your dad, the doctors are going to quit. Then who are we going to see? The insurance companies? And to add insult to injury, we pay for insurance for our family to the tune of $15,000 a year but the deductible is so high the actual insurance benefits have not been helpful. The one year that I had given birth and Ryan needed OT we should have met the deductible, but the insurance company decided that Ryan didn't really need OT and so we paid 100% out of pocket for that too. (I am a PT and my husband a MD, but the insurance company decided our son didn't need OT...) I could just cry over the whole thing. My husband didn't receive his first real paycheck until he was 38 because of medical school, internship, residency and air force payback and then we get here and find out it is hell and we want out. He makes a good living right now, but it has decreased by 20% every year since he started. We could possibly handle the progressive decrease in income if it weren't for the increasing pressures of liability and the increased workload trying to keep a practice afloat. I am so sorry to unload on your blog...but what is happening now totally sucks and it doesn't look promising for the future. Getting the government involved would only add yet another skimming layer...Texashollyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17982077447405220888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3421703365822811182.post-11197340912296059722008-04-04T12:36:00.000-04:002008-04-04T12:36:00.000-04:00I just linked to your blog for the first time toda...I just linked to your blog for the first time today, so I won't go all crazy, scary on you for my first comment. Our medical system is run by the insurance companies, not the doctors. Some clerk decides whether or not testing or surgeries are neccessary. I am currently entangled in a nasty battle with my daughter's old insurance company after they approved a surgery (she is deaf, it was for her first cochlear implant), then denied it....AFTER SHE HAD THE SURGERY! Then, they refused to pay out any other bills for the remaineder of the plan year. The doctors, who are caught in the middle, have been wonderfully kind and caring. It is them I feel for. It is them I am fighting this battle for. They deserve to be paid for the work they did. Okay, enough of my rant!Triciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10715187918892679058noreply@blogger.com