I am IMPRESSED!!!!!!!! Nice job there Christine!

Sorry about not being around much these days; with the flu season in full swing things have been more than hectic in the ER.

I have had little time to sleep let alone chat on here I have missed though you sweet talk and ***y face

Christine

A national healthcare system would be the ** WORST ** thing that could possibly happen. Aside from the inability of the government to manage anything efficiently, aside from the dramatic increase in taxes, aside from the rationing of health care, aside from the fact that fewer students would pursue a career in the medical field; it would not improve care for those that need it most.

It is estimated by the AMA that if a national healthcare system were put in place ER and clinical admissions would rise a hundred times. Our system cannot possibly handle such an increase. When you start providing free healthcare everyone will come running in for the most minor of conditions and preventive care will go out the window. Why worry about preventive care when I can see a physician for no out of pocket expense!

There is also the issue of training new physicians, I am not sure that most people are aware of the financial and time commitments it takes to attend medical school, a year of internship, two to four years of residency; all of which are needed before you can even consider private practice.

If anyone thinks for a second that because a person is a licensed physician they are making a tremendous amount of money I have news for them. The average salary for a RESIDENT is less than $30,000 per year.

Overall if you look at the breakdown of medical costs insurance and paperwork costs exceed 55% of what you pay. Therefore, if you want to reduce the cost of medical insurance and medical services, we all need to do the following:

1. Increase preventive care knowledge and practices within the general population.

2. Reduce our insurance costs (Medical Mal-practice) and the only way to reduce this would be to reduce the number of claimsand lawsuits.

3. Reduce our paperwork requirements for all parties.

It is relatively simple in theory at its most basic level. in pracitcality it will be much much harder to make the necessary changes.

Christine Kaplan M.D.