The future of US healthcare....

I have always been of the opinion that healthcare worldwide has major problems to overcome.

Doctors in Germany are aging with an average age of around 55 and can retire with full pension benefits at prior to the age of 65. They may actually see a decline in the number of doctors over the next decade creating a severe shortage of supply. New doctors find that costs are too high relative to socialist prices that they are allowed to charge. Their costs live in the capitalist world but their revenues live in the socialist world. So why become a doctor when other professions in the computer field and financial areas offer better wages.

In the US, the problem is very different. High costs of malpractice insurance are driving doctors out of the business as this article indicates.

Maryland's largest association of doctors said yesterday that as many as 40 percent of the state's physicians will close or leave the state if lawmakers do not soon address rising costs brought on by increasing medical malpractice premiums. The dire prediction, the key finding of a statewide survey of doctors, was announced yesterday, the same day that surgeons at Prince George's Hospital Center -- frustrated about the rising premiums -- announced a plan to stop performing non-emergency surgeries starting Nov. 15.
"These lawsuits are killing us. A real parasite wouldn't kill the host, but lawyers are killing the host," said Dr. Willie Blair, president of
medical staff at the Cheverly-based hospital.

It will be interesting to see how this all works out since trial lawyers
donate such large amounts to political parties across the country.

Things here in Hong Kong are not much better. A strong public healthcare
system cannot withstand shifts in customer preferences. Woman, for example,
have increased the demand for pap smears due the death from cervical
cancer of a popular singer. The waiting list is now around 18 months to
have this procedure performed.