Elderly! - Page 3

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

On 1/1/2014 happy housewife said:
On 1/1/2014 Ms X said:
Happy Housewife: The ACA cuts reimbursement to doctors under Medicare. This is why many doctors don't take new Medicare patients and why patients see RNs. As with any worker or business, they can't afford to take customers on whom they lose money. Even Howard Dean has expressed concern about this, calling it a form of rationing. I am very much against them cutting payments to medical providers to the bone, as it will hurt patients and worsen the doctor shortage. Why doesn't Congress cut reimbursements to the doctors who treat them and their families? Hmmm?

So you don't think that your doctor makes enough money?? That he and his wife and all his kids all driving around in mercedes and living in million dollar homes is inadequate income???? someone needed to reel in the access that was on the back of the taxpayers. Trust me -i have several friends who are doctors - and NONE of them are hurting financially. I have been in their homes and been invited to things like kids graduation parties and they are not simple backyard affairs. Are they Po'ed their income is going to drop - sure - but that doesn't mean any of them are going to be hurting for money. i would not be crying for them.

I want a doctor to make a lot of money and to be successful. Me personally, I don't want to go to a doctor who could make as much money saying "Do you want fries with that?" I think most doctors I know personally more than earn their money. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes.

AuntG · ‎03-09-2010

On 1/1/2014 Ms X said:
Happy Housewife: The ACA cuts reimbursement to doctors under Medicare. This is why many doctors don't take new Medicare patients and why patients see RNs. As with any worker or business, they can't afford to take customers on whom they lose money. Even Howard Dean has expressed concern about this, calling it a form of rationing. I am very much against them cutting payments to medical providers to the bone, as it will hurt patients and worsen the doctor shortage. Why doesn't Congress cut reimbursements to the doctors who treat them and their families? Hmmm?

Wasn't aware of this. I realize there are a lot more NP's which I believe are nurses with additional training (who can prescribe medications), but didn't know RN's are starting to fill the void.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

On 1/1/2014 AuntG said:
On 1/1/2014 Ms X said:
Happy Housewife: The ACA cuts reimbursement to doctors under Medicare. This is why many doctors don't take new Medicare patients and why patients see RNs. As with any worker or business, they can't afford to take customers on whom they lose money. Even Howard Dean has expressed concern about this, calling it a form of rationing. I am very much against them cutting payments to medical providers to the bone, as it will hurt patients and worsen the doctor shortage. Why doesn't Congress cut reimbursements to the doctors who treat them and their families? Hmmm?

Wasn't aware of this. I realize there are a lot more NP's which I believe are nurses with additional training (who can prescribe medications), but didn't know RN's are starting to fill the void.

Sheis referring to NP s i'm sure. some people really don't know who they are seeing or what their credintails are. i am an RN and i would have no problem seeing a nurse practioner instead of my doctor.

debcakes · ‎03-11-2010

On 12/31/2013 traveler said:
I'm not yet 60yo but notice medical personnel do treat me as so old that it's like they are speaking to a child. Asked about a patient computer program and was told that seniors find it hard to understand. Gee, I've had a life of width and depth, think I could handle it.

Yes, I noticed this, too. I took my 85 yr. old mother to the emergency room the other day to be checked out due to taking a fall in her bedroom. The DR. seemed to speak only to me even though my mother is 100% sharp and knowledgeable about medicine. No damage other than some severe bruising, thank goodness.

LilacTree · ‎03-25-2012

On 1/1/2014 debcakes said:
On 12/31/2013 traveler said:
I'm not yet 60yo but notice medical personnel do treat me as so old that it's like they are speaking to a child. Asked about a patient computer program and was told that seniors find it hard to understand. Gee, I've had a life of width and depth, think I could handle it.

Yes, I noticed this, too. I took my 85 yr. old mother to the emergency room the other day to be checked out due to taking a fall in her bedroom. The DR. seemed to speak only to me even though my mother is 100% sharp and knowledgeable about medicine. No damage other than some severe bruising, thank goodness.

I've had that happen to me many times, especially since I've been in a wheelchair. They ignore me sitting there and ask my daughter what's going on with me. She has learned to look at me without saying a word, and I begin to communicate with the doctor. Unfortunately, most of them forget this from appt to appt, and we have to play this little scene over and over again.

Perhaps you can try this the next time you bring your mom to an appt, unless it doesn't bother her. BTW, I'm glad she's ok.

Formerly Ford1224
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Elie Wiesel 1986

terrier3 · ‎03-10-2010

I think ""elderly"" is a medical term...like morbid obesity.

It describes everyone over a certain age.

CDN2 · ‎03-09-2010

Xxxxxx

Ms X · ‎09-13-2012

Happy Housewife wrote: So you don't think that your doctor makes enough money?? That he and his wife and all his kids all driving around in mercedes and living in million dollar homes is inadequate income???? someone needed to reel in the access that was on the back of the taxpayers. Trust me -i have several friends who are doctors - and NONE of them are hurting financially. I have been in their homes and been invited to things like kids graduation parties and they are not simple backyard affairs. Are they Po'ed their income is going to drop - sure - but that doesn't mean any of them are going to be hurting for money. i would not be crying for them.

___

I have a family member who is a doctor and whose husband also makes a good living. They have never had a Mercedes or other luxury car. They don't live in a "million-dollar home." They DID, however, have to pay the full freight for their three children to attend college to the tune of $40 K a year. That's approaching $500 K. You see, they don't get the financial aid that middle-class people get. They also pay a much higher percentage of their income in taxes.

Then there's the sacrifice a person makes to become a doctor. They go to school for 20 years and then must finish a grueling three-year residency. For specialists, extra years are often required. After all this, they have big school loans to pay off. Further, they work very long hours and are not reimbursed for time spent on the phone with patients, which can add up to a lot of time.

Then there's the reality of what the ACA will pay them. I've seen some interviewed on the news, and they say that it won't even cover their overhead. You might think they are lying, but I believe them. Would you do work for someone (in this case Medicare) if it wouldn't even cover your overhead?

P.S.: A doctor I know told me that a surgeon whose name you would likely know only makes about $150 K annually. This doctor knows this surgeon very well. People's perception about what doctors earn is in most cases inaccurate. Their reimbursements have been falling for nearly 30 years.

Mindy D · ‎05-23-2010

As long as Christie Brinkley keeps looking as good as she does, we are the same age; I am going to delude myself into believing I'm still young.

chrystaltree · ‎05-10-2010

Well, your husband was talking to doc who specializes in geriatrics. So, it's no surprise that the doc would call a 64 year old with health problems elderly. Also in medical terms elderly has specific meanings. I think age, the number, is irrelevant. The coolest, youngest, hippest, person in my social circle is my best friend who is 73. She also has a body that any 35 would be proud of. No one would ever think of her as elderly, but she's over 65 and that's elderly. My mom looked and acted and felt young for her age. She lived in elderly housing and would often tell me about this or that "old lady" in her building. One time, she stopped herself in the middle of a sentence. It suddenly occurred to her that the friends she thought of as old, elderly, senior citizens.....were much younger than she was. She never thought of herself as old, so she never got old.