Posted by NCWayne on May 06, 2012 at 23:01:42 from (69.40.232.132):
I read the post the other day about healthcare and some of the replies to it, along with replies to similar type posts over time, all got me to thinking.
It seems like any time the subject of doctors. or lawyers, charging soooo much gets brought up there is always someone defending their rates because of the schooling involved, the insurance they have to carry, etc, etc, etc. While that's all well and good, it still doesn't give either profession a right to price gouge the rest of us.
I mean seriously, I am just a mechanic by trade. Granted I never went to college for what I do, but I have spent a lifetime learning everyday to be able to do what I do and the learning never stops. Now if I were to choose to go to school to try and keep up with the latest and greatest, I could easily spend several thousand on each dealership school and each typically lasts only a week or so. Once that class is complete, they typically have new stuff every year so if you want to keep current you have to attend EVERY class. At that rate I would either have to work on only one brand, and type of equipment within that brand, or I would have to spend ALL of my time in school. Then there are the tens of thousands of dollars I would need to spend to buy all of the new the new computer hard and software that continually comes out to even try to keep up with all of the new things beign put in each new piece of equipment that rolls off the line.
In the case of a doctor the human body (the machine they work on) hasn't changed in thousands of years...if then..... While they may want to keep up with the latest and greatest on the equipment and medicinal front, the basic "machine" they were trained to work on never changes even if the equipment to work on it does. In fact given the changes in equipment, many times their job gets easier due to the new equipment that does the diagnosing for them. For a mechanic though, the very equipment that is supposed to make things easier typically does nothing but complicate things, and unlike trying to diagnose a body that hasn't changed, and old disgnostic methods can still be used upon, the machine a mechanic is working on HAS changed, so what used to work no longer does because of all the new equipment that was supposed to make things easier.
That all said, given what I have to deal with on a daily basis, I'll freely admit I charge a rate sufficient for me to make a living and stay in business, but I'm not getting rich by any means. I have to pay for insurance just like anyone else to cover myself in case I should make a mistake. Funny thing is a doctor can screw up on one patient, and only that one person is effected but, if a mechanic screws up there could be dozens of people in harm's way. Heck think about the uneducated 'parts changers' putting brakes on cars nowdays. How many people's lives are being placed in their hands when they do a brake job???????? Seems to me the guy at the local Jiffy Lube has just as much, of not more responsibility to do hus job right hanging over his head than a dozen doctors could ever think about.....
Funny the reason that the doctors have to worry so much about their liability takes us right to the other profession where excuses as to education, insurance, etc, are always thrown out in their defence....Lawyers...
I guess what I'm saying here, in a nutshell, is school, insurance, etc, etc any self employeed person can understand. Having to be perfect in everything you do, any mechanic worth a dang knows that feeling and demand on your services well. Beyond that there are hundreds of other professions in the same boat...What about the man that builds a ship, an airplane, a bridge, does your brakes, built your house, etc, etc, etc.??????
Ultimately the demands on many blue collar workers typically meet or exceed those on any doctor but the most specialized guys like brain surgeons, and even then they are not alone in the exact, mistake proof demands placed on their work.
So, when it all comes down to the brass tacks, none of rest of us blue collar guys can afford a $500,000 house and a new BMW in the drive every year, and I see or hear no one defending us wanting/needing to make enough money to simply take care of our families. At the same time the doctors and lawyers of the world can demand whatever rate of pay they want and we have to pay it or do without.........
So, all excuses aside, what exactly makes what a doctor or lawyer does so much more important or valuable to the point they can make demands of salaries exceeding $250 an hour when someone like myself has to utilize the same 'intillegence', has the same responsibilities to do perfect work, has to pay for insurance, etc just like they do, often does work where failure of said work could place dozens of people's lives in jeopardy, etc, etc....... yet when someone like myself only asks for $60 an hour ((which just does cover a modest mortgage payment, cost to stay in business, insurance, and other living expenses for my family, with just a bit of profit to put back for the future/retirement)))) is often told that it's way too much.......
None of this mess has ever made sense to me....So can anyone explain how/why doctors and lawyers seem to be able to pay for all of the 'excuse items' and still have enough left over to live the life of luxury on the backs of the rest of us....and explain it without all of the excuses surrounding school, insurance, etc, etc, etc....and supply and demand isn't reason for the high prices as a look in any phone book proves that neither profession is in short supply....
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