Very interesting program. They looked at the systems in the UK, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland. All had problems, but there was a a general overall satisfaction with the system by patients because they had access to basic care for free or not much money. Some were totally free at the delivery point some required a small co-payment. All totally controlled the fee's Dr's can charge. In all Dr's make much less than they do here in the USA. One thing that was common to them all, Dr's (in general) felt underpaid and underappreciated, in Germany they even went on strike. In Japan 50% of the hospitals were in financial trouble. In all the politicans were afraid to raise more money via taxes/insurance rates for fear of being voted out of office. Look for it on your PBS station and tape it/DVR it and watch it.
So Terry....how is the dental field? In Michigan I hear of dentists really experiencing a crunch because of the loss of so many jobs and the reluctance/inability of people like myself to come up with the cash to pay for dental services.
I think with the loss of insurance by so many people household budgets will tend to go more towards essential expenses like car and mortgage payments and primary medical care.
I spoke to one of my ex-clients this evening who still resides in Michigan and who used to be my main point of contact for GM. It was the glory days of my time there and everybody did well and enjoyed what they did. These GM guys were competent and worked their tails off and partied hard too when the work was over. In short...great bunch of guys and great clients to have. Now....he has paid for his own insurance ( catastrohic only ) for the past two years......just got laid off from a job he only worked for 3 days a week anyway and I'll bet he hasn't been to a dentist in the two years since he was at GM. We talked about everyone I knew.....and he knew.....and very very few are still employed in the auto show business that we all worked in. It's pathetic in Detroit right now.
Illustration of Michigan's plight: http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/gapmap/index.htm That deep, deep red in Michigan could be an even deeper red in the Detroit metro area.