

Posted: 3/29/2001 5:25:30 AM EDT
I have worked in the same hospital for the past 20 years.The place was arguably,the most desirable place to work in town.Great medical and support staff,semi-academic,state of the art equipment,well maintained physical plant,etc.The city had a cooperative atmosphere where if one hosp excelled in a field, the primary care Drs. would refer the patient to that place, regardless of whether he/she was on the staff or not.Patients got great care because of this non-competitive relationship.
Then came the squeeze for money and "survival of the cheapest" forced by medicare,industry and the insurance companies.Industry leaders at Kodak,Xerox and others(this happened everywhere in the country with their own industries)started to pay as little as possible for medical insurance premiums.That way the CEO's could give stock holders great dividends and in turn assure themselves 100 million dollar salaries! Medicare did it because Congress did not want to spend more money in health care,and the insurance companies did it to increase their profits.Raise premiums & lower cost=$$$$$$for the top executives.No,they never passed the savings down to lower premiums on their policies! Hospitals began to lose money and compete for patients,and many became insolvent.We just joined the list of bankrupt medical centers, after 112 years of continuous service to the community.2,300 jobs will be lost in the city with this closing. This is happening everywhere around us. Excessive greed has killed too many a good institution in the USA,and no place is safe from its grasp anymore! I hope those responsible for today's deplorable situation of medical services in the US..... rot in hell! [}:(] |
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Sorry to hear that Ed, you are a good guy. You even support this site. I hope you will find a new gig.
c-rock [url]www.illinois-shooter.org |
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Sorry to here that. Several teachers at the school district I work for were riffed this year, and almost everyone who is a friend of mine, and started teaching the same year I did, is quitting and finding work elsehwhere due to "executive desicions".
Again I am truely sorry to here what happened to you. I hope you find something even better. Try to keep the attitude up, and go shoot a few rounds through your AR, it works for me. guns7.62 |
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Ed I was saddened to read your story. I wish I could win the lottery and set you up for life. You didn't mention what you're going to do next, do you have a plan yet, working on one, or ? Our prayers are with you and hope something positive comes out of this ordeal.
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Ed,
Sorry to hear that man. I know the cutbacks suck. I recently injured myself for the first time in my life. Severely sprained ankle and torn ligaments. I went back to the doctor's office after staying off of it 1 week, still swollen, could NOT walk on it. Doctor looks at it and says "Well, doesn't look like there's much more we can do. What kind of insurance do you have?" "Blue Cross/Blue Shield" I say. "Well, let me check your file and see what we can do" he says. Refers me to specialist, now I'm in a cast for 6-8 weeks. WTF??? I thought doctors were supposed to be concerned about PEOPLE. So, if I didn't have good insurance, would he just tell me to stay off it until it gets better? WTF? |
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Sorry to hear the news Ed. It seems to be a plague going around New York State. I lost my job (2) weeks ago. My brother lost his (2) months before that. My sister-in-law lost hers at the same time. Both my neighbors became unemployed within an week of each other........ I could go on and on but you get the idea.
Keep the faith. We will all bounce back! |
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Ed -
Sorry to hear of your misfortune. My diagnosis??? This is what happens to any system that has one foot planted in socialism, and one in capitalism. The gov't started screwing with healthcare (regualting the supply, but not the demand, much like Kali did with their electricity) and now, you get to be the victim of socialism. Let the free market control. It always produces the best product at the cheapest cost. |
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EdSr,
Sorry to learn of this, this is happening all over. My wife is an NICU nurse and has been for 15 years, not because the money is good(she has been offered jobs making 3x as much in the medical sales field)but because she loves the patient care. She works horrible hours/weekend/holidays, only to be berated by ungrateful entitlement parents. This situation you are describing has been called "Clintonizing" in her hospital. The nurses ban together and pitch in their own money to buy, nice sleepers, and blankets for the infants to wear, then they take turns taking them home to wash. This because the hospital(private, very profitable)buys the cheapest gowns they can. Did I mention the nurses are in it for the patient care? We have paid thousands(yes thousands)of dollars out of our own pockets to pay for vehicle damage that happens to her SUV when it is broken into in the parking lot. Because the hospital won't pay for security. Did I mention the nurses are in it for the patient care? For the past 5 Christmas' she has had me make the the kids stay upstairs on Christmas morning, until she can get home from working a 12 hr shift, and they grew up wondering why mommy had to sleep on Christmas day. Every year with out fail,at Christmas the nurses hold a reunion for the kids that have been in her unit, I make her and our children go to see what a difference she has made in the world. It is about scarifice, the ones people like you and my wife make, for patient care. Yes, I tell her "I might make more money, but I am not curing cancer, you are" that argument is wearing thin now, the system has taken its toll on her. This fall when our youngest enters first grade she swears she is quiting, and doing something else, somewhere else. In my opinion, this will be a sad day "for patient care." I am sorry and God speed in your future endevors. |
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Our local Health care provider, I wont mention any names (Alina) just announced they need to increase rates because of sagging profits. Well, they just got busted for paying a 'consultant' over 800k plus expenses/car(lexus)/expensive accomodations (super expensive appartment). Forget paitent care. Jut make sure profits are up. Forget looking at the system to see how to make the system cheaper(do not fire people). Forgrt the fu*king lawyers who sue for millions because they let a paitent die because his head was chopped off in an accident, and they couldnt sew it back on. vent.vent .vent
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To all of you:thanks for your kind and sympathetic thoughts.
I know this is happening everywhere.As I said no place is sacrosanct anymore. We as a society have placed more value on entertainment than in education,medical care,etc.So we find that paying Tom Hank $20 million for a movie is acceptable,but we get bent out of shape if our taxes would go up by $50/year to raise teachers' salaries. And paying $100 for concert or game tickets is preferable to paying a nurse $25/hr to care for our loved ones. |
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sorry to hear that you like million others that are unemployed like me iam layed off going back
to a vocational school to learn a better pay trade machinist, CNC stuff. well ive read some of the anti-gun bills being shown at congress WE ARE BEING SREWED! ive turned the channel and watched pat roberson he said that the politians are doing things unconstitutional Big time and they don't care and we have to challange it in the supreme court BULLSHIT not only were losing are jobs were still losing are freedoms replublicans are wearing two faces. so watch out! |
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Years ago everyone ragged on how much the doctors were making. So they psudo-socialize the system, and now the corporations make the big bucks. I heard of one place where doctors were making $105k, low even for todays standards. CEOs and VPs now make the big bucks.
Ed, sorry to hear about the loss. |
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Sorry to hear about the loss of another healing institution, Ed, AND your employer. I am in the endoscopy field, and work for one of the big three, though not the big *O*. I sell video endoscopy equipment here in Florida.
I think the problems started years back when we allowed government to control our healthcare, and they in turn listened to lawyers and big HMO's on *cost cutting* measures. Nothing the Fed runs works! They have taken medicine out of the caregivers hands, and decisions are now made by corporate bean counters, and people who have never helped heal anyone. Yes, I am a salesman, and I need to make a profit. Because of Group Purchasing Orginizations, and all the consolidation going on, there is no longer *open competition* , driving prices up even further. It has become a vicious industry to say the least. My wife works for a group practice, my mother just retired from administration of an oncology group, my brother provides Home Healthcare for Open heart surgery patients, my uncle provides software solutions for medical directors, I sell butt lights, and my father-in-law is a practicing Opthamologist, though he no longer does surgery. To every last one of us, we are disgusted by the state of our industry. We are *all* looking to get out of it, too! I hope you hit the ground running, Ed. My thoughts are with you |
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Quoted: So we find that paying Tom Hank $20 million for a movie is acceptable,but we get bent out of shape if our taxes would go up by $50/year to raise teachers' salaries. And paying $100 for concert or game tickets is preferable to paying a nurse $25/hr to care for our loved ones. View Quote You know, I genuinely sympathize with your situation, but I cannot agree with that logic. I'm personally sick and tired of tax and spend politicians trying to sell their programs with the "But it's only $50 a year" or "Just one pizza a month" lines. We can choose whether or not to pay $7.50 a ticket to see a Tom Hanks movie or go to the concert/sporting event or watch it from home for free. I basically CANNOT choose to force the school district or any other government entity to be fiscally responsible other than voting to withhold additional taxes from them. Our local school district can spend millions on a FOOTBALL STADIUM and then has the gall to turn around and whine about not having enough money for new schools, transportation, maintenance, pay raises, etc. King County can afford to spend BILLIONS on new sports arenas for the Mariners and the Seahawks, even after voters turned the projects down. I say f*ck 'em. I must already pay a cumulative total of about $50K per year in taxes. I say enough already. |
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I'll chime in and agree that the socialism that holds a death grip on health care is the problem.
A few years ago my wife broke a tooth off and I didn't have a dental plan for her. So I took her in for the oral surgery. When it was all done I was asked for my health care insurance provider's name and give a bill for close to $2400 - I told the lady that my wife wasn't insured and that I would just write a check, use a credit card or set up payments. She breaks out a second charge chart for cash discount and I ended up about $1200. If I had a dental policy with the military I would have paid 50% out of my pocket. Ed I think your too old but my company is hiring (US NAVY). People with talent, wisdom and skill are always in demand as people with an education are a dime a dozen. |
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I agree with you Boomer, and will go a step further. You really have to look at the big-picture economics of the situation.
Admittedly, it appears inequitable that a teacher or a healthcare worker will make $400K over the next 10 years, and Alex Rodriguez (a baseball player) will make a quater billion dollars over the same time frame (or 625 times as much) But you've got to realize what an Alex Rodriguez will mean to his baseball team. For the next ten years, he will be putting fannies in the seats, at approx $25-40 a ticket. (At an avg. $35 per ticket, thats $630 million in his employers pocket over the same time period - JUST for tickes) Add to that advertising revenues, soda and popcorn revenues, tourism revenues, etc, and Alex becomes a multi-BILLION dollar asset to his organization. Becasue of him, hundreds (possibly thousands) of vendors, maintenance workers, ticket agents, security personnel, tourism workers, shop owners, concession workers etc etc will have jobs. Simply put, when I can make that kind of an economic impact to my employer and community, THEN I will demand the salary he gets. Now, compare that to a teacher, or healthcare worker. Are their jobs important?? No doubt. But do they have a multi-billion dollar impact for their employer / community, or employ hundreds of other workers?? NO. Now, you can say that saving a life or training a child is MUCH more important that hitting a baseball, and I'll "AMEN " ya all theh way from the last pew in the church balcony. However, dollars are limited. The employee that brings the bucks to his employer makes the bucks. Its the free market economy, and we should be careful about bashing its "morals" of who gets paid what. |
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Damn ED, didn't we just have this conversation about "Caring vs $$$" a couple of weeks ago..?
My kidney is killing me ([i]literally[/i]), but the corporate docs don't care about anything other than their next BMR payment! [b]Just in case a corporate doc ([i]eurologist[/i]) by the name of RALPH CLAYMEN of St.Louis happens to be reading this: "[i]F^@% YOU, you worthless greedy bastard... I hope you slowly and painfully choke to death on caviar![/i]"[/b] Me..? NO... I'm not angry!!! [pissed] |
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Quoted: Our local school district can spend millions on a FOOTBALL STADIUM and then has the gall to turn around and whine about not having enough money for new schools, transportation, maintenance, pay raises, etc. King County can afford to spend BILLIONS on new sports arenas for the Mariners and the Seahawks, even after voters turned the projects down. View Quote I have no argument with that! I made a comment about a specific issue:entertainment versus better pay for qualified teachers. The building of stadiums for shool teams is in a lot of cases a form of entertainment for the adults disguised as a rounded education. You can play football,baseball or whatever in a regular school field with regular stands;and basketball,wrestling,etc in the school gym.No need to have a grand stadium to accomodate 10,000 people for highschool games! [B]Put the money into the important things:a quality educational experience![/B] The problem was solved centuries ago by the Roman Empire:Take away the right of the people to have imput in the decisions of the State and GIVE THEM THE GAMES IN THE COLISEUM! We are experiencing the same thing today. |
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Sorry to hear about you losing your job Ed. It happens to the best of us. when my wife and I decided to get married I was working in a Chrysler dealership parts dept. I loved the job and my co-workers were a great bunch. They even had a Snap-On coffee cup with a major babe on it waiting for me my first day[:)] We bought a piece of land in April to put a mini home on, got married in Oct. and I was laid off in December. but if that had not have happened..I wouldn't be were I am today. I am working in the LEO field, good pay/benefits/training etc,etc. Like my parents told me when I lost my job.."everything happens for a reason". I thought it was a load of BS but there might be some truth to it. Keep your hopes & chin up and enjoy some time off before you get back in the rat race.
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I have the utmost respect for physicians, especially the ones that "do no harm".
Never, I repeat never, would I attempt to understand why Tom Hanks gets $20 million for a movie role and my wife $60K for teaching children. It just is a fact of life and a quirk of the free market. I doubt the actors in ancient Greece got the "big bucks". I sure as hell ain't paying anyone $20 million to do anything short of saving the world from a collision with an asteroid, but you and I can't tell a corporation what is in their best interest. Motives can be sincere and yet counter-productive. I'd rather be faithful to principles and let things sort out in the long run. Good luck in your future employment which I'm sure will likely be an improvement for you. |
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Quoted: Ed I think your too old but my company is hiring (US NAVY). View Quote Damn Paul,you're beginning to sound like my sons and Don R! [:D] Et tu Brutus? [;)] |
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Sorry to hear that ED,hope you find another job soon.So what did you do at the hospital?
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You have a good soul.
I know these things. You will find something better. ...stay away from the government cheese.... McLear |
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I'm very sorry to hear about this, Ed.
If you are interested in a relocation to Texas, please let me know. My brother is an ER MD in San Antonio, working through the Baptist hospital system. I'm certain that they would be interested in someone of your caliber. Bud |
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Quoted: Admittedly, it appears inequitable that a teacher or a healthcare worker will make $400K over the next 10 years, and Alex Rodriguez (a baseball player) will make a quater billion dollars over the same time frame (or 625 times as much) But you've got to realize what an Alex Rodriguez will mean to his baseball team. For the next ten years, he will be putting fannies in the seats, at approx $25-40 a ticket. (At an avg. $35 per ticket, thats $630 million in his employers pocket over the same time period - JUST for tickes) Add to that advertising revenues, soda and popcorn revenues, tourism revenues, etc, and Alex becomes a multi-BILLION dollar asset to his organization. Becasue of him, hundreds (possibly thousands) of vendors, maintenance workers, ticket agents, security personnel, tourism workers, shop owners, concession workers etc etc will have jobs. Simply put, when I can make that kind of an economic impact to my employer and community, THEN I will demand the salary he gets. View Quote In that case, if I ever see Alex on the operating table I will say:How much is it worth for you to live so you can fill those stadium seats and pump up all the concession stand sales?[:D] |
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Ed, you said you worked there for 20 years. with that type of time can you atleast draw a pension for years served? it won't cover total living expense but atleast you'll have some type of income.
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Ed, it is with sadness I hear this, but it is heard more each year. My mother retires from the ER after a 40-year career and laments she is glad she's retiring and not starting in today's medical environment. Expand outpatient private facilities, starve out the bread-and-butter for the public hospitals, close trauma centers. Just think, if Democrats didn't implement wage & price controls, companies would not have increased wages by adding health care benefits through insurance companies, the government wouldn't need to regulate, and doctors could be caregivers. Scary thought, isn't it?
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Pensions don't kick in until retirement.I still have a good 10 years of work.I am not as old as Paul thinks! [:D]
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Sorry to hear about your job been to the same road before and I know how it feels. Since you are in medical field I am sure and confident that you will find another job quickly.
Good luck. |
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It scares me that an institution as large as yours can just close. Especially after significant upgrades recently. Both of my kids were born there so I have a strong fondness for that hospital.
I hope things work out well for you and wish you the best in the future. |
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Quoted:If you are interested in a relocation to Texas, please let me know. My brother is an ER MD in San Antonio, working through the Baptist hospital system. I'm certain that they would be interested in someone of your caliber.Bud View Quote Thanks Bud! About 8 years ago my best friend asked the head of his group of 20 Pathologists (Severance and associates) come to recruit me as head of surgical pathology.My friend trained with me in Rochester and was head of Cytopathology in that group(another branch of the specialty).The offer was,as he said,"one I couldn't refuse",but my wife did not want to leave where we are because all of our children were here. I agreed that while the offer was great,and I would get to work with a close friend,family was more important than more money or advancing my career. Two years ago the group was bought by a giant company that paid all the partners enough that they could retire wealthy men. My friend could not believe I could turn down such an offer because of "trivial sentimentalism" and no longer communicates with me. Why am I telling you all this?...because it was at the Baptist Medical Center(111 Dallas Street) in San Antonio [;)]Small world isn't it? |
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Sorry to hear about your Job Ed, I was in the same boat 3-4 yrd ago. when the BBA was passed and PPS was implemented. I saw good friends and co- workers loss their jobs. I was fortunate enough to be chosen as 1 of the 6 out of a staff of 22. My employer asked me " We want you to stay unless you decide otherwise" duh . Guess what my answer was.
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Quoted: And paying $100 for concert or game tickets is preferable to paying a nurse $25/hr to care for our loved ones. View Quote If I had a dollar for everytime I have said that. Hope everything works out for you Ed. Hunter out... |
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ed i'm sure something better will come your way.i'm afraid we will be seeing more of our members in the same boat as you find yourself in if thing don't change soon.mmk
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The situation is deplorable. I recently had a mild heart attack and am dealing with the health care system for the first time in 10 years. I think some 3rd world countries have better systems in place.
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Sad to hear, Ed. Hope you will find a better job in the near future. I too lost my job once, thought that was the end of the world for me. But then, it put me in a different career path that I became more prosperous than ever before. God had a funny way to guide us to the right path. You want to hear a funny story? I used to give change every day to a homeless guy who stand in the corner of my street on my way to work each morning. One day when I lost my job, I came upon to him and told him of my lay-off. The guy quickly felt sorry for me, and with whatever change he got in his pocket, went out and bought me a bottle of Coke!. Of course I declined to take the bottle, I just couldn't, and almost in tears, I thanked him. I remembered that til to this day. Don't ever give up Ed.
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Keep your chin up Ed.
I was in the some boat last fall, recently found work, (at a lower wage) but as of last night I had a better offer that would bring me back up to where I was. I wish you the best in tackling the job market, it's brutal out there. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Don't get depressed like I did, and with luck and the will of God things will come around. |
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Let us know when you bounce back,Ed. My company sells oncology equipment and we're doing really well right now despite this "economic downturn". So there are plenty of hospitals out there that are hiring and buying. Look on the bright side,it's not like demand for your job will be going down anytime soon! Good luck.
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My sincere condolences Sir [:(]
Hope to meet you at a shoot in the future. [:)] |
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Sorry to hear this Ed.
Unfortunately this is a symptom of a much bigger problem in society. There are fewer and fewer people paying for a greater number who do not. Politically speaking, this problem covers many other areas but certainly health care is a biggy. We are all but falling down the slippery slope of socialism. At this point I do not belive the trend can or will be stopped. Give it another decade when an even greater number of people decide that "hard work" = not necessary. I think things will get real ugly. Hope you can make it to TBRS this year. Hope to have some WARM weather this time. CMOS |
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I think HMO's were one of the biggest con jobs put on the American public. We were told HMO's will keep health care costs in check. The HMO's built million dollar office buildings. Millions that would have gone to healthcare, and now they don't lower costs. We just added another middleman to healthcre.
Now the HMO's are all going broke, but they managed to milk the system & investors with their empty promises for years. Be wary, the recession is here. I would seriuosly advise people to save extra money and don't take on any extra credit. Good luck all of you keeping your jobs, my brother has been laid off from two different jobs in 9 months, and he is a MBA CPA. |
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That's a bad deal Ed. I don't know anything about the health care situation other than that in CA most of the hospitals are short on staff. As least that's the excuse they use for hiring foreign nurses here on H1-Bs.
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So sorry to hear about your job loss. Hope to see you make a come back soon.
I do believe that the economy is taking a downturn and just waiting to see if my wife whose in the mental health field or me in coal mining will be affected by this. |
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That sucks, doncha know! What's a pathologist to do? Are there private practice opportunities at/near Rochester? Maybe it's time to move somewhere warmer! Is there going to be a glut of physicians in your specialty now? Some M.D.'s move into consulting, research, or drug sales, I would imagine. Is that interesting to you? I'd be interested to hear how you resolve this matter.
Best of luck! |
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Hey, yo tambien fui victima de este fenomeno hace tan solo 3 meses, y siento por vos...
tomate unos dias de descanso y despues de vuelta a la lucha. A mal tiempo buena cara...y buena suerte... Carlos |
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Ed, sorry to hear you lost your job. Yeah, there really is a trend on cutting back everywhere around us. I've seen many friends being squeezed so tight that their health was in jeopardy. I really wish you the best of luck. My prayers are with you and your family.
-RoadDog |
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southern rising,
Your doc was trying to make sure you weren't stuck with a bill you couldn't pay for. You oughta see the response you get from people when that happens-it can get pretty nasty. As if we can keep track of all the insurance companies different policies. Hell, they change the rules monthly. This is all driven by the government, in case you didn't realize it. It really makes no difference to me whether your insurance pays or not. I will do as much as I can within reason. Ed Avila, Sorry, man. Hang in there. Medicine is an awful tough place to be these days whether you're a hospital nurse, janitor, or MD. Only the admin dipshits seem to be making out. I'm sure you'll end up on top-might just take a little while. |
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Ed,
Sorry to hear about your job. That sucks after 20 years. Ever think about packing up and heading down Texas way and feeling a little freedom? We would love to have ya down here. |
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Many thanks to all of you who have given me words of encouragement.
As of this morning,I have been contacted by colleagues who found out about the closing and have asked me to join them.Some are 2 hrs away(better than no job).It is also very likely that the sister hospital will hire me and some others, as soon as we are let go of here. I will keep you posted on developements. Again,thanks to all for your concerns.You continue to prove that the AR15.com community is a great bunch of good guys who feel for their brothers. I am honored to be in your company,gentlemen! |
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