Will a Universal Health Plan affect the salary of medical professions?
If the United States becomes a country that institutes a universal health plan, will it affect the salary of medical professions? Such as pharmacists, doctors, specialists, etc?
Lea is a bit simplistic. Actually some MD salaries would probably rise as they would all be paid for ALL patients as opposed to seeing patients that can’t or won’t pay at all. But if universal healthcare pays POORLY, everyone’s paycheck would adjust accordingly–can’t give employees a salary if you aren’t earing the $ to begin with.
Medical income is a ratio of billable received income (which may NOT be the amount billed) minus expense such as malpractice, operating & capital expense, etc. The backend–malpractice & operating expense are HUGE which is why salaries are not as big as people think they are.
Many things would be impacted positively or negatively (depending on the actual reimbursement)–the type, number & kind of tests & xrays ordered, referrals to allied health such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, etc., home health visits, hospice care, durable eguipment (wheelchairs, walkers, toilets) etc etc …EVERYTHING THAT WILL OR WILL NOT BE PAID FOR under the plan.
AS you can see, this is very complex–part of the reason a universal plan has not yet be implemented.
Dentists are in a separate category (dental insurance is separate from medical) & I think pharmacists salaries would be much less impacted as their salary is not dependent on a billable expense.
February 6th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Physicians would be affected the most. Their salaries, especially for the specialists, would have to drop thousands of dollars. Also, more MDs would be pushed into primary care.
The others won’t be affected as much.
References :
pharmacy student
February 6th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Lea is a bit simplistic. Actually some MD salaries would probably rise as they would all be paid for ALL patients as opposed to seeing patients that can’t or won’t pay at all. But if universal healthcare pays POORLY, everyone’s paycheck would adjust accordingly–can’t give employees a salary if you aren’t earing the $ to begin with.
Medical income is a ratio of billable received income (which may NOT be the amount billed) minus expense such as malpractice, operating & capital expense, etc. The backend–malpractice & operating expense are HUGE which is why salaries are not as big as people think they are.
Many things would be impacted positively or negatively (depending on the actual reimbursement)–the type, number & kind of tests & xrays ordered, referrals to allied health such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, etc., home health visits, hospice care, durable eguipment (wheelchairs, walkers, toilets) etc etc …EVERYTHING THAT WILL OR WILL NOT BE PAID FOR under the plan.
AS you can see, this is very complex–part of the reason a universal plan has not yet be implemented.
Dentists are in a separate category (dental insurance is separate from medical) & I think pharmacists salaries would be much less impacted as their salary is not dependent on a billable expense.
References :
ER PA/MD