Insurers to pay doctors 30-40% less under exchange plans.

[uppityperson]

53. You pay 1 day of your wages to visit a doctor, true. How much of that does the doctor keep?

For me, a local visit to PCP is around $140. Let's say the doctor busts ass and is able to blow through 3 patients an hour (don't forget charting time). That means the facility makes $420 an hour. Oops, I mean charges that. Insurance pays the facility half, the other half is written off. Cash pay/no insurance, means they make maybe 2/3 of that since they typically provide a discount and then there are those who don't pay.

So, that drops it down to $210-280/hour. As people with insurance typically pay copays, rough it up to $260/hour. (could be a bit more or less, am using rough numbers).

Staff gets paid salary. Receptionist/billing, nurse/med assistant, computer tech person are the 3 main people needed. Oh, accountant also for taxes, etc. Let's pay them $15, 25, 25 an hour, but with benefits which doubles the cost. $65 X2= $130/hour for staff.

Now income is $130/hour.

Rent or loan payment for facility, electricity, heat, landline, telephone book monthly payment.
Continuing Education, mandatory.
Facility insurance.
Malpractice insurance.
Equipment, office and clinic/medical.
Office supplies, papers, etc.
Clinic supplies, gloves, table paper, tongue depressors, paper gowns or laundering of cloth ones, etc.

These are off my head basic costs of running this business.

There is no monetary cost to the stress of dealing with life and death. That doesn't cost money, but it does cost.

How much is left after all that to go to the doctor? How much of that goes to repay those huge student loans? How much do places that loan money at interest love to pull in said doctors, basing it all on predictions of being able to work and get paid decently for a number of years?