my day job is working with physicians and hospitals all over the country and have been doing so for over 20 years so have a reasonable insight into the issue - I cannot really speak to the individual premium costs but in general one must presume that they will for the most part be higher - the larger overall issue that I see is that of quality and quantity of healthcare in the future in this country - many young physicians come out of training with $100k to $200k or even more medical school debt - depending upon the specialty that they choose, as incomes between specialties vary a great deal, it will be difficult for them to pay that debt back unless the get some assistance from a more rural hospital, where they probably don't want to live, will help them pay it off for an agreement to practice there for x number of years - more and more young folks that are the brightest are not choosing medical school for a career - think about it, you are 30 years old or older before you get your first real job that pays a 6-figure income and will be in debt up to your eyes - in more metro areas there are people all over that are making 300k to 500k in the business world, probably selling something, that never have to make rounds on weekends or go in on Saturday night to do surgery on some drunk that was in a car wreck that is hoping for a chance to sue you - pediatrics, family medicine will not make this kind of income - and lets face it, the work is generally not pleasant - next time you are in Wal-Mart look at the people around you - think of them being your patients and seeing them naked in order diagnose some condition - another issue is that for many tough specialties such as critical care and other such specialties that require those 70 to 80 hour weeks we see the American trained physicians moving away from such and in recent years we have relied more on foreign physicians as it is not a life style choice of preference - say what you want about foreign physicians but we would be in deep poop without them - however fewer of them are coming to this country and many that do so for training are going either back home to practice or to some other country when incomes are better as the improving economies in developing countries have changed the playing field - so it is diminished supply of physicians with a surging population, many of them obese with multiple physical issues and an aging population of baby boomers that are for the most part going to live longer - if we stay on this path, and I think that we will, you will see long waits to see a physician, particularly specialties, as well as delays in receiving treatments, some of which would be considered lifesaving - health care 10 years from now will be very different on this path - I could go on and on about the issue as it is important for all of us but I need to get back to work as my mental break is looking at Steer Planet - but I have conversations like this almost daily with folks all over - I know that people with cattle interests from all over looking at this board think that all physicians make tons of money - some of them do - however a lot of them make a good living with a compromised lifestyle - so if you have a good doc that you know and trust for your personal care and the care of your family be thankful and tell them so - they pay a lifestyle price and have done so since high school to do what they do -
