Do most doctors in the U.S. care about America's poor and uninsured?

Question

I go to many health-care reform meetings in Wisconsin, and seldom see one doctor there. Do they only want to care for the rich?

Noone i spare us your personal attacks!

Answer 1

allot of Dr's are only willing to help someone if they have money or insurance.

Answer 2

Doctors do care. Please don't place the blame on doctors. The reason why there are 48+ million Americans that are uninsured is because of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. It's all about making money and the physicians are in the middle. They no longer have patient care in their hands anymore it is all controled by managed care.
However, like someone said in their post, there are healthcare providers who donate or volunteer at free health clinics, yet this doesn't replace seeing a physician in an office.
For those that are uninsured there is help out there. I personally, was unisured until I became a member of AmeriPlan. It's not insurance but a discount plan. We all know those who are uninsured get charged the highest rate. With AmeriPlan any physicians that are in network have to give you anywhere between a 20% to 80% discount. They can't charge you their customary fee because you are self pay.
It works for me. Now I don't worry about paying a high fee because I am self pay. If you want to know check out the link or website below.

Answer 3

I don't think so sometimes, the more money the better the treatment, the better the treatment the more money for the doctors. I noticed since I lost my insurance when I quit my job, I am managed on meds and not offered any more procedures for my bad back. I live in Colorado right in the middle of all the nice ski resorts, so their are rich people all over this place, and when I worked at the hospital, people were treated so different because of social status and money. I can't stand living up here due to all the hype over rich and poor there is no happy median here. I have seen people literally kick out of the hospital if they were unable to pay the hospital stay....really, they say they do it to save this person from getting a huge bill when actually they don't want to take a chance this person may never pay the bill. I have seen young mothers on medicaid get treated like total crap because they are welfare cases, it's amazing what hospital's get away with.

Answer 4

I think a vast majority of doctors care a great deal about the poor and uninsured, I personally know of a great many that donate what little free time they have to volunteering at free clinics and providing emergency medical care in disaster situations...yes, they care. But, like most of us, they are trapped in the truly abysmal failure of a system that has come about as a result of insurance companies making a buck off the misery of illness, and the drug store chains making unreal profits off of medications. It isn't the pharmeceutical companies that charge ridiculous prices for their meds, it's the drug stores that markup those prices, in some cases as much as 1000%!!! We truly need health care reform in this country, but don't point the finger of blame at vastly overworked doctors and nurses, point the finger at the insurance companies and drugstores, and at our legislators for doing nothing about it. Of course, THEY voted themselves lifetime medical care for free, so why should they worry? No one to blame for that but ourselves, we let em do it.

Answer 5

no they don't care. a few weeks ago i had to take my daughter to the ER (per the advice of her pediatrician) because she was vomiting frequently and we weren't sure what to do. first of all, the dr wanted to do all kinds of crazy stuff to my one year old like catheterize her, do bloodwork, and a chest x-ray along with an IV drip. we told them we didn't have insurance and couldn't afford it. the dr. basically tried to scare us into having these things done and essentially told us we were bad parents trying to do his job if we didn't let him stick her with tubes and needles. we felt horribly mistreated and taken advantage of since we didn't have the money or insurance to pay for such things. we declined all care and told them we wanted to leave, which we did. i still had to pay 600 dollars basically for waiting in a room, having my daughter's temp taken and a dose of baby motrin. i got a bill in the mail yesterday from a pathologist for bloodwork we never had done so now i'm having to deal with that. i'm beginning to believe the hospital charged me for the services i declined. it was really aggravating for all the abovementioned reasons and even more so because i had just started a new job and wasn't eligible for benefits for another 2 weeks.

we took the baby home, she never threw up again, slept thru the night and was totally fine the next day. i'm really glad i didn't let that bastard dr do anything unnecessary to my baby. i wouldn't have forgiven myself for it. the truth is that medicine is a business and doctors are salesmen that want you to get as much done to you as possible because you're the layperson and they know better. god forbid you try to dictate the way you want to be medically treated. i have insurance now, but i'll be damned if i step foot into a western medical practioner's office again. they're only interested in money. they don't really care about their patients. they just care how many they can get in and out of the door every day.

the last time i was sick several months ago, i had a stomach flu and went to the dr. she basically told me everything i read of web md and was absolutely no help. i sat in a waiting room for over an hour so she could basically tell me what my own logic would. i personally think the american healthcare system is whack.

Answer 6

Doctors are some of the most compassionate professionals available to help you. We do however tire of the endless amounts of people who do nothing to take care of themselves.

The problem is people who choose to suck off the system. They are typically the ones who do not follow recommendations for care, do not eat a well balanced diet, do not exercise, and expect the government to take care of them. They think they are "Entitled".

The other problem is illegal immigration. If you want universal health care in this country and expect those of us that do work and contribute to society to pay for it, as we are now, then close our borders and take care of legal residents. Then there would be ample resources to take care of everyone who needs care.

Answer 7

Sadly, not the doctors I've been in contact with. They all want their money before you leave their office (whether you have insurance or not). And of course, the first thing their office staff asks for is your insurance card when you walk in the door. They don't seem to understand why you can't afford an expensive prescription (even when you have insurance coverage). They either get their meds for free or they have enough money to pay for them very easily. They don't understand that not only do we have to pay their fee, but for the meds at the pharmacy too. That adds up severely at times. We don't choose when to be sick and it always seems to happen long before our paycheck is due!

Answer 8

Many Dr's. don't seem to realize or know what the common people do to survive out here in the real world.
When they prescribe meds they are dumbfounded that you cannot afford them, or are dumbfounded that that you cannot take the whole week off for a minor surgery like removing a mole.

I also understand that their insurance is outrageous and the government regulations prevent them from doing the right thing quit often.

Answer 9

Unfortunately there is a natural gravitation to an unhealthy balance between the two. They pay massive sums of money or are stuck with massive loans in order to practice medicine, yet there are other ways to make a lot of money, so they have some dedication to healing the sick. It would be nice to be able to serve everyone, but a fact of our healthcare system is that it doesn't pay as much to help the poor. Some doctors will prefer to pay off their loans, live an expensive lifestyle, and not be worried about bankrupcy. There are some, however, that work hard to help the poor and have a great deal of interest in reforming how health care is covered and practiced. In Toledo, Johnathan Ross is a doctor that is actually leading the discussions on health care reform in our region.

Meanwhile, the average doctor is probably more like my uncle: taking care of himself and his family as best he can, although I doubt most doctors ride a bike or run to work at his age. I don't imagine he has much patience for self-inflicted illnesses such as problems that arise from weight problems, but he is more passionate about epidemics that impact everyone equally. Unlike most doctors I've met, he appears to lead by example - lots of exercise, healthy foods, etc.

Another doctor I know is working in an even worse medical system than we have, although her education was covered by her government. In the Dominican Republic, the education of doctors is apparently excellent, but the system of care strongly favors rich tourists and completely ignores the most impoverished in the country. The DR is more libertarian than we are though, so it's more of an everyone for him- or her-self sort of economy. Most Americans find the reality of such an economy so incredibly unpleasant that they work hard to avoid it by walling off the resorts and not leaving. Doctors working in these resorts are paid well, but they are required to live in their office to be on-call 24-7. At least they are earning more than working full-time at McDonalds! That's what my friend earned working in a public clinic there...

As for health care reforms, someone that rejects the idea of health care reform out of hand ought to be shot. At the very least, such people do not deserve to be our leaders. I'm so sick of the syncophants of the insurance companies that I'd be plenty happy to give them a nice hard b****-slap as soon as I get in range. Death is too good for them though. They need to experience the pain and level of care given to those that get rejected from a system built on greed and hate first hand so that they understand their sin before they die and go to hell. Better yet, maybe they should be forced to give some poor sod covered with pustules sitting on a street corner in the Dominican Republic and explain to them why they deserve the level of treatment they are getting - unarmed and unescorted, of course. Who knows? They might even make it back to the US alive!

Answer 10

I think they care for humanity in general. Docs dedicate so much of their lives to their profession that they feel the need to be compensated. i don't believe many people go into medical school for the money. That is just a benefit. As with nurses there is a severe shortage of nurses in the US because of the demands it places on their personal lives, but they are very well compensated.

Answer 11

lol, did it EVER occur to you that they are too busy taking care of the sick, wounded, hurt and disabled to make it? (that IS their job, you know.)

I have NEVER met a non-compassionate, uncaring, disinterested Dr., they ALL take their job seriously, they had to just to GET their. Tell me you can't be serious...do doctors CARE??

They also have to stay current on education, licensing, new medications, laws, regulations, and, oddly enough, many also have a family and do quite well raising their children

Have you ever spent a day with a Dr? If not, make a plan to spend a week with one, make sure you take your vitamens, you WILL be exhausted.