Asa person seeking a career as a health professional, the current news in regards to the new health care reform has definitely piqued my interest.
New laws that provide or require citizens to have health care will definitely be a reason to pay close attention to our government to see how this will turn out.
Over the past year I have had conversations with some premed students about the reform, and some of them have stated that because of the reform, they would not like to apply to medical school anymore.
At first, I was indeed shocked by their answers. However, after a lot of reading and listening to the details of the health care reform, I can definitely see their point.
One of the main reasons I have heard for a reason to not go to medical school was about how the doctors would have to take a major pay cut.
This is definitely a cause for concern. With practically an annual increase in tuition and other expenses, along with an increase in the interest rates for certain student loans among other things, many people would question how they are expected to pay for their education when they are not even going to be making as much as they expect upon making the decision to become doctors.
Another issue I have heard is because of the fact that the funds for this reform will affect the disbursement of student loans for everyone.
Now, for any student this is a cause for concern because a vast majority of students in this country use some sort of financial aid including scholarships.
As far as loans go, students graduate from college with a vast amount of debt currently. If the interest rates on the loans were increased to provide funding for the new reform combined with the anticipated lower income for physicians, this would mean that there will be an increase in the amount of debt these students would graduate with.
Also, it will take longer for them to be able to pay back their student debt.
Some other issues include having the government step in and decide which procedures are “necessary” for a patient.
As many of us already know, Congress is not spilling over with doctors, nurses, scientists, or anything like that. Therefore, having these people decide which procedures are medically necessary sound ridiculous.
Also, each patient is very different. Some patients cannot go through several different types of treatment in order to cut back on the costs when a more costly treatment is guaranteed to work.
This could also affect the amount of medical research that is done. This not only affects physicians, but anyone that does medical research: nurses, pharmacists, veterinarians, etc.
Also, the option of owning private practices could be removed along with many other things that are greatly affected by the health care reform.
Now, for most of you that are reading this you would think that I am either against the health care reform or possibly that I am reconsidering my choice in profession as well.
However, on both counts you would be incorrect. I believe that there are some good things about the health care reform like not placing everything into the insurance companies hands.
As many know, insurance companies have very strict guidelines as to what they will provide, and often the will not cover all of the costs of whatever procedures that are required for the treatment of a patient.
This bill could provide a solution to this problem if executed in a good way.
As far as deciding to not go into a medical profession, I am too stubborn to allow a bill to decide my career.
I believe a physician should provide excellent health care even if they are not being compensated for their services.
As far as the pay cut, health care professionals are not the first group of qualified professionals that have suffered pay cuts. Teachers have been on the lower end of the payment totem pole for years, yet we still have people graduating with degrees in primary and secondary education with the full knowledge that they will not be guaranteed to have a large salary.
I had a desire to become a veterinarian before I even knew the difference between a $5 and a $10 bill.
Now, with the new bill I can see the potential for certain fields in my career choice to suffer financially.
However, I do not find this as a good enough reason to change my mind about my career goals. I did not choose this profession for money, nor will I opt out of because of a decrease in potential income.
I do know that health care professionals will always be in demand as long as people are inhabiting this earth.
Therefore, perhaps we should not be so quick to give up on our dreams or goals because of governmental decisions.
Terrisha Buckley is a senior majoring in animal and dairy sciecnes. She can be contacted at [email protected].