naked capitalism

cian says:

A lot of Australian doctors (and GPs in the UK also) work part time around childcare. In the UK, doctors receive a fairly low salary until they finish their training (which takes several years). So this may distort the figures somewhat.

One of the problems with the US system is that many of the tests which are run have a high false positive, which means many procedures may well be unnecessary (this is true of both prostrate and breast cancers, for example).

emca says:

This comment from the Hempton article:
"Most doctors however have structures in place that produce this low salary to minimize tax. The real income for an average GP working full time would be closer to 5 times average salary, or about the same as 30 years ago as you note"
– which would second the comment made above.

The blog entry makes it clear that there are some definite losers and winners in any market reform. In the case of health care its business burdened with the increasing costs of employee benefits, verses the medical support establishment (not necessarily primary doctors) which benefit from unhindered consumption of service as well as "fee for service" delivery. (cynically I might add, that this fits the bill for a nation of consumers not producers)

The core problem, as the article suggests, in the U.S. is not availability of service, but a means of containing the costs of the health care behemoth itself. On this lever politics in this country has failed…again.

Analogy to that other social sector, finance, is painfully obvious. I don't see how any long-term solution can be managed given the current environment of haves and wannabes, the hapless have-nots.

Incidentally I also couldn't help but noting, that under the Australian system, its private insurance that's the burden and problem, not public service, which is not going to pay for anything outside minimals on the taxpayer's dime (therefore is more cost effective),and who the healthy, the sure(s) of insurance, gravitate toward.

Also this stood out; much of the work primary care physicians do is to avoid the specter of ligation, not what is needed for effective patient care. From a personal perspective, although I'm not in the medical arena, I can vouch for that observation, as I have spent woefully too much time and money waging a 'safe rather than sorry' battle.

RPB says:

Put these idiotic cap and trade schemes into law and NG will spike quickly and a new LNG cartel will be established. But at least our money will flow more towards Russians, Persians, Africans and Pickens (T Boone) than Arabs, right?

Watch and see.