Newsflash! Goods and services cost money!

[Boozy]

I had a new patient in today. He signed off on absolutely everything, all office fees, x-rays, you name it.
Then I got to the consultation fee.
"What?! I was NOT prepared for THAT! What do you mean the doctor charges for a consultation? It's just talking! What the hell is this s*&! You are deceitful. You should have told me about this up front, before I drove all the way down here. All you people are corrupt and deceitful."
I told him that I would absolutely have told him about the consult fee if I had known that he was under the impression that health care was free.
When was the last time you saw a doctor for free? And more importantly, how many people would go to school for eight years and pay thousands of dollars in tuition if they couldn't charge a fee for their expertise later?

[BookstoreEscapee]

You may just be talking but you're still taking up their time...If he went to see a therapist, would he object to the fee? After all, they're just talking...

I once had a blockage in my ear and could barely hear out of it, and my doctor couldn't clear it out, so she referred me to the ear, nose and throat specialist. I found one that happened to be next to my store, and managed to get an appointment while I was working, so I told my manager I needed to take a long lunch. I got there, filled out all the paperwork, and he wasn't there yet so I was waiting for over 30 minutes, and it took him all of 5 second to clear it.

Cost me $75.

But I didn't complain cuz I could hear!!

[Getoutofmylobby]

Our hotel is a great one. We have a great housekeeping and maintenance staff and we never get complaints about cleanliness of the rooms. (We do get complaints about the service though. )

Anyhow, some people can't believe why our prices are so high compared to the three other hotels within a half mile of us. Uh hello? We're worth it?

[Dips]

Try telling that to software customers...

"$300 for what? It's a 75c piece of round plastic!"

Well sure. The plastic cost 75c, but our staff of programmers and support people don't work for free. Our electricity, rent, water and heat aren't free. Development tools, hardware and servers aren't free either.

And, yup, I wouldn't answer the phone and repeatedly present this logical argument to SCs in my lilting and soothing voice for free either.

I love my job.

[ArenaBoy]

I love the reaction I get when I am a cashier on the drives. "$10 for parking!?!"

Let's see we're out there risking our lives making sure that none of you get into an accident and to make sure you can get home as quickly as possible.

[iradney]

That baffles me. Then Call centre operators shouldn't get paid either, coz all they do is talk. Neither should politicians..hey wait, that one makes sense

That doctor most likely spent up to a decade in uni, learning to diagnose and operate and prescribe the right drugs. What you call "talking", human beings call "consulting with a specialist who knows what he's doing and not some ho-dinkum backwater know-nothing who'll end up killing you in the end".

[tollbaby]

I can sort of see his point in a way.... I used to live in Ontario, and now I live in Quebec (those are places in frosty Canada, for the uninitiated).

We don't pay when we go see the doctor. We give them our little plastic health card, and the province pays them directly (yay for socialized medicine!). The only time I've ever had to pay for anything up front was before we got our Quebec health cards, and whenever we require services that aren't covered by the province. I was shocked to discover that I had to pay a "consultation" fee the first time I showed up without a health card (not that I was sucky about it, just surprised). Just because I'd never thought of it before.

[CrazedClerk]

I can sort of see his point in a way.... I used to live in Ontario, and now I live in Quebec (those are places in frosty Canada, for the uninitiated).

We don't pay when we go see the doctor. We give them our little plastic health card, and the province pays them directly (yay for socialized medicine!). The only time I've ever had to pay for anything up front was before we got our Quebec health cards, and whenever we require services that aren't covered by the province. I was shocked to discover that I had to pay a "consultation" fee the first time I showed up without a health card (not that I was sucky about it, just surprised). Just because I'd never thought of it before.

I'm Canadian too so I feel you on that, however I totally understand the need for a "consultation fee" if I'm going to see a lawyer or real estate agent or financial advisor or any other PROFESSIONAL. These people are not supposed to give away free advice, they get PAID to give advice.

[reformedwaitress]

We don't pay when we go see the doctor. We give them our little plastic health card, and the province pays them directly (yay for socialized medicine!).

See, with that, you DO pay a consultation fee, it's just the province that pays it, not you.

[protege]

Then I got to the consultation fee.
"What?! I was NOT prepared for THAT! What do you mean the doctor charges for a consultation? It's just talking! What the hell is this s*&! You are deceitful. You should have told me about this up front, before I drove all the way down here. All you people are corrupt and deceitful."

Ugh. I have a feeling the guy would crap his pants if he looked at the closing costs when buying a house. Nearly *everybody* has their hand out for payment to get various reports filed...

[Noelegy]

Don't people realise that what they're paying for is to see a PROFESSIONAL? You need bypass surgery? Okay, I'll do it for ten bucks. You might not come out of it alive, because I don't know what I'm doing, but hell, it's cheap!

You're not only paying for the service, you're paying for their experience and knowledge as well. And when it comes to your health well...I don't know about you guys, but to me the expense is worth it. I like to think of it as an investment towards continuing to be alive.

I used to have an online acquaintance who believed in all sincerity, and stated so whenever possible, that janitors and open-heart surgeons should make the same amount of money; that nobody should make more money simply because he or she had more education.

No amount of explaining to this woman that the reason open-heart surgeons make what they do is because they have enormous amounts of education and experience that justifies their salaries would convince her any differently, nor would explaining that if there's no high income as an incentive for people to go into medical school, there might be a dearth of qualified doctors.

Nope, she truly believed that nobody should make any more money than anyone else. Most of the time she was pretty logical in her posts, but on that point I believe she was absolutely daft.

[Jester]

When was the last time you saw a doctor for free?

Actually, the last time I saw a doctor for free was the last time I saw my doctor.

But then, my doctor is a good friend that extends that courtesy to me because he is one hell of a nice guy. If he charged me? I'd pay it. And when it comes to things like tests, x-rays, lab fees, etc? He does charge me. And I do pay it.

Welcome to Capitalism. This is how it works.

[tollbaby]

yeah... I guess in retrospect, the guy was pretty damn sucky. I was just surprised that they asked me to pay it. I mean, intellectually, I knew that doctors got paid every time I went to see them... i'd just never been asked for cash on the barrel before

[Boozy]

I probably should have mentioned in my original post that I actually live in Canada, and therefore so does my SC. But the kind of doctor I work for is a chiropractor and osteopath, which is not covered by our provincial health insurance. A fact that this guy was WELL aware of before coming into the office. So I don't believe that should be an excuse for his behaviour.
We do sometimes get people who are shocked by the amount of money my doc charges. And he's CHEAP considering the number of degrees he has. But many Canadians are surprised by the real cost of healthcare because we don't have to write a cheque every time. Like Tollbaby, I don't ever have to think about it. At least not until tax time.

[Hemily]

here in Norway, you sometimes get medical stuff covered by the... uh... the people who takes all your money in taxes

as i saw a shrink, and had to run around to get medical tests, i got a card, after so and so amount i paid myself, the bossy people take evertything above that each year, kinda nice, seeing a shrink every week is expencive.