Michael Merritt
A second, more subtle problem with the Medicare entitlement is the mental attitudes that it fosters among both patients and physicians, namely that unlimited medical care is an essential right of every American and that equal outcomes, medically speaking, are both deserved and desirable for all Americans.You'll first have to fight off the AARP, who is as powerful, if not more powerful, than the pro-Israel lobby in this country. Even Republicans didn't put up any fights against Medicare this time around. They know where the increasing majority of voters are, and it's not among the younger crowd. :)
Undoubtedly some were moved by love of their fellow man; however, most were motivated to the field by a combination of aptitude and the desire to avoid the manual labor performed by their peers. In other words, doctors use their minds and skills to make a better life for themselves, their actions being the essence of the American Dream as it was defined by our Founding Fathers.I get your point, but I actually think the primary motivation of money over patient care is becoming very problematic in our country. More often than not these days you see doctors (and it always seems to be with the older ones) who just don't care, even if they once did. This leads to care of a lesser quality, and I'm sure this must lead to increasing costs when the patient doesn't end up getting the attention they need. I think of my own profession. Yes, I like to get money for it, and yes, getting money for it is a big incentive to do good work, but I certainly have no delusions of grandeur, at last not being relatively new to "real life" video work. I've heard lectures on that more than once! I certainly didn't spend hundreds of hours in high school and college shooting and editing video because I expected to be wealthy off the bat. I did it because I liked it. I understand that to get anywhere near that level that a lot of hard, good work and time will have to pass. I'm not saying that doctors shouldn't be paid well for their work. I'm saying that too often some doctors care more about getting through patients quickly. If they cared some more about their work, I'm guessing we might not have some of the health issues we see today. Less health problems, less costs.
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