[NYer]

I am harboring a wish that Msgr. Pope will be named to replace Bishop Hubbard :-) ... Please!

[workerbee]

I waited because this is neither a political blog, nor a legal blog. I want to leave the political commentary and questions to others, and let the legal types parse the Constitutional questions.

With all due respect to Msgr. Pope, there isn't a one of these problems, or its potential answer, that is not "political." Therein lies the problem.

[The Great RJ]

My father was a family physician for more than 60 years practicing in a small town in South Dakota. For decades his charge for a basic office call was $10 eventually rising to $20 before he retired. He made house calls for the same basic charge and when he was still delivering babies in the patient’s home his charge for a routine delivery was $16.

However, his only staff was a receptionist. He did all his own basic lab work and never had an X-ray or EKG machine. The tools of his practice were only the most basic and he referred patients to specialists who needed care beyond what he could provide. He also filed all of the insurance, Medicare and Medicaid clams himself. In later years he often said he spent more time on the paperwork than he did seeing patients.

Today even the smallest medical practice has nurses and technicians to aid in patient care, EKG and X-ray machines, automated lab equipment and at least one person just to file the insurance, Medicare and Medicaid claims. My father, even with his most basic level of medical practice, paid about $3,000 a year for malpractice insurance, a rate that would seem ridiculously cheap by today’s standards. All of these costs must be reflected in what the patient is charged. In addition reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid has been cut in recent years often to below the cost of providing the care. These costs then have to be shifted to other patients. My physician charges about $100 for a basic office call and allowing for inflation from my father’s day and the added costs for today’s medical practice that would seem pretty reasonable. In comparison, an electrician installing a ceiling fan in my home charges $200 and I pay $70 per hour for computer repair and at least $35 per hour to have a mechanic look at my car.

[sitetest]

This fellow will probably never be named a bishop. He is neither a socialist nor a denizen of the left side of the bell curve.

[Not gonna take it anymore]

Great article.

A new urgent care just opened in my area. I haven’t been yet but I might.

Since I am a senior and have Kaiser, I am supposed to go to them. But I recently got new glasses and just didn’t claim any insurance at all.

They gave me a deal. I’ll take that, thanks. Look at all the paperwork time I saved them.

[Running On Empty]

Marking