Healthcare - Doctors Are in Business to Make Money - How Do They Do It
That legal minimum in taxes is determined by how they make money and available deductions. This leads to profits, return on investment (ROI), dividends, ability to pay employees, etc. In the "Healthcare" business, the customers are you and I - drawn in by the expectations promised us from previous experience, TV shows, drug company ads, a slight cough or a real emergency.
Let's break this business down into components and see how understanding this is a business and not a romantic or dramatic television show makes the current crisis in healthcare transparent. Let's start with the front end of the business - Doctors.
Qualifying for Business
Doctors have completed college, medical school, apprenticeship (residency) and if they have a specialty area e.g., psychiatry) they have taken additional coursework, etc. After that they have to get a business license to actually practice in a particular state. They have invested enormous sums (school, capital, time etc.) to be in business. And then they have to sustain large ongoing costs to actually do business (insurance, equipment, etc.
What's interesting is once you've made the investment and because of the position that doctors occupy in society, similar to lawyers, after they qualify - that's it. They never have to requalify. Stock brokers, real estate appraisers, insurance agents - all have to requalify for their license to practice. Not so a doctor - the only people that can judge them are other doctors - not a bad job security environment. So you could have received your business license in 1980 and been practicing and there's nobody to question if you've "moved" with the times.
How They make Money
Doctors make money in seven ways:
What is their Purpose?
Doctors are regular people - they have kids and mortgages - they don't exist in a vacuum. My next door neighbor is a cardiologist. Their business is too sell medical services NOT to cure you or anything else - those may or may not be a byproduct. For some reason, customers (patients) are not clear on this, that somehow a doctor and what they do is removed from the real world because of the occupation they have. Just like any other trusted sales person you believe what they tell because of the position they occupy.
So when you go in with one interest, the doctors may have a totally different agenda. Just like a car mechanic - you have good ones and not so good ones. The doctor's job is too look you over and using a consultative sales approach - you are instructed to take a few tests, maybe sent to another doctor, a "specialist". At the same time, you are also given a prescription for some drugs, designed to have some effect in relation to whatever your issue is. You may also make a minor copay - they bill your insurance company for the whole thing so the customer thinks it's all altruistic and never understand the full cost of anything because it is subsidized. When I actually went through my bill and found that my doctor was giving and charging us for unnecessary tests - I fired them and told my insurance company.
You will only rarely, have a doctor tell you to get anything that they do no get compensated for and you never see a price list of the service costs broken out for you. Think of all insurance as a massive privately funded (in most cases) subsidy pool (with actuarial tables). The greater your copay or have as a deductible - the more concern you have about costs and vice versa.
It is the combination of that societal trust and the patient's removal from knowing the true costs of service that is at the root of the "healthcare crisis".
Doctors are like any other business person - customers, products, sales, referrals, samples, wholesale, retail, etc.. And they all their own proprietary information systems to protect their sales information. Example: try to get a copy of your own medical records - you may think they're yours but they are the property of the doctor's group - why? It's proprietary business information. The patient needs to thinking more like the customer they are.
Gordon and Lori Townsend have over a decade of experience as wellness coaches and have helped hundreds of people achieve their health and fitness goals without the use of drugs or other medications. Lori lost 28 pounds and 6 inches of body fat, her cholesterol went down 100 points and she got off all prescription thyroid medication in 8 weeks. Gordon lost 30 pounds and went from a size 34 waist to size 30 in 8 weeks. We have not been to the doctor nor have our children for any illness in 4 years! How would you like energy levels through the roof, the body shape you want and fundamentally change how you look and feel about yourself? We believe that success is in the details and the coaching so let's see if we have a match - Contact us for a free consultation and wellness evaluation at loriandgordon@gmail.com
Let's break this business down into components and see how understanding this is a business and not a romantic or dramatic television show makes the current crisis in healthcare transparent. Let's start with the front end of the business - Doctors.
Qualifying for Business
Doctors have completed college, medical school, apprenticeship (residency) and if they have a specialty area e.g., psychiatry) they have taken additional coursework, etc. After that they have to get a business license to actually practice in a particular state. They have invested enormous sums (school, capital, time etc.) to be in business. And then they have to sustain large ongoing costs to actually do business (insurance, equipment, etc.
What's interesting is once you've made the investment and because of the position that doctors occupy in society, similar to lawyers, after they qualify - that's it. They never have to requalify. Stock brokers, real estate appraisers, insurance agents - all have to requalify for their license to practice. Not so a doctor - the only people that can judge them are other doctors - not a bad job security environment. So you could have received your business license in 1980 and been practicing and there's nobody to question if you've "moved" with the times.
How They make Money
Doctors make money in seven ways:
- selling their services. They are in business either singly, medical groups or institutions (hospitals).
- lab tests they commission or conduct.
- referrals
- drugs they sell (prescribe)
- researching, creating more drugs and lab tests (most of dubious value)
- training other Doctors to do the same things they do
- they operate on people for cosmetic or disease
What is their Purpose?
Doctors are regular people - they have kids and mortgages - they don't exist in a vacuum. My next door neighbor is a cardiologist. Their business is too sell medical services NOT to cure you or anything else - those may or may not be a byproduct. For some reason, customers (patients) are not clear on this, that somehow a doctor and what they do is removed from the real world because of the occupation they have. Just like any other trusted sales person you believe what they tell because of the position they occupy.
So when you go in with one interest, the doctors may have a totally different agenda. Just like a car mechanic - you have good ones and not so good ones. The doctor's job is too look you over and using a consultative sales approach - you are instructed to take a few tests, maybe sent to another doctor, a "specialist". At the same time, you are also given a prescription for some drugs, designed to have some effect in relation to whatever your issue is. You may also make a minor copay - they bill your insurance company for the whole thing so the customer thinks it's all altruistic and never understand the full cost of anything because it is subsidized. When I actually went through my bill and found that my doctor was giving and charging us for unnecessary tests - I fired them and told my insurance company.
You will only rarely, have a doctor tell you to get anything that they do no get compensated for and you never see a price list of the service costs broken out for you. Think of all insurance as a massive privately funded (in most cases) subsidy pool (with actuarial tables). The greater your copay or have as a deductible - the more concern you have about costs and vice versa.
It is the combination of that societal trust and the patient's removal from knowing the true costs of service that is at the root of the "healthcare crisis".
Doctors are like any other business person - customers, products, sales, referrals, samples, wholesale, retail, etc.. And they all their own proprietary information systems to protect their sales information. Example: try to get a copy of your own medical records - you may think they're yours but they are the property of the doctor's group - why? It's proprietary business information. The patient needs to thinking more like the customer they are.
Gordon and Lori Townsend have over a decade of experience as wellness coaches and have helped hundreds of people achieve their health and fitness goals without the use of drugs or other medications. Lori lost 28 pounds and 6 inches of body fat, her cholesterol went down 100 points and she got off all prescription thyroid medication in 8 weeks. Gordon lost 30 pounds and went from a size 34 waist to size 30 in 8 weeks. We have not been to the doctor nor have our children for any illness in 4 years! How would you like energy levels through the roof, the body shape you want and fundamentally change how you look and feel about yourself? We believe that success is in the details and the coaching so let's see if we have a match - Contact us for a free consultation and wellness evaluation at loriandgordon@gmail.com