<p>I don’t know if I should post on this thread because I am disturbed by several of the comments. The first set of comments had to do with equating Obamacare with socialized medicine. Fortunately someone corrected that. But let me emphasize that again. Obamacare is not a health plan, it is a set of laws. That’s it. Those law tell the insurance companies what the minimum coverages will be. Just like the past laws governed the insurance companies. I have an ACA plan for my own family. We love it. Why? Because it is a private insurance, it is cheaper than what we had, and actually covers what we need. I think the only socialized medicine we have in the US is the military and probably NIH.</p>
<p>The other issue that is disturbing is that the money aspect comes up a lot. I read that no one is here for the money, BUT! That “but” seems to be placed there to forgive so much of the money talk that follows. We advise against going into medicine for the money because the opportunity costs are steep. You give up so much to become a doctor and the process is long! If you went into it for the money, you will find very quickly how frustrating and how depressing your life will be. The money will never and can never obviate that misery.</p>
<p>Incomes have been dropping for decades and that varies depending on the specialties. Most have increased their patient volumes to earn more. While others have found new procedures to increase revenues. The facts are that as the baby boomers become Medicare recipients and our citizens want the “government” to reduce spending, many of our entitlements will take a hit such as Medicare.</p>
<p>I can not predict the future but expect pay to reduce, work to increase and tuition to continue to be outrageous. But don’t change the genuine reason you want to do this, to help people through the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of illneses.</p>