There has been some discussion recently in the media regarding doctors' charges.
Often, discussion focuses on why doctors' charges differ for similar treatments. As a doctor, I would like to explain what goes into a charge. Besides the doctor's training, the skill level involved in making a decision for the same illness and the time the doctor spends in a given visit, are all different from patient to patient.
As to addressing some of the media's claims that somehow, there is only one single charge for the same treatment in the idealised 'Western country', surgical or otherwise, I can speak from first-hand experience. And I can assure readers, that in the US, not only do doctors charge differently from patient to patient based on the factors I have described, but the reimbursements from the government and insurance companies, will differ, for the same diagnosis or treatment. For Medicaid in the US, the payment is typically less than the cost of service.
Then there are the many varieties of sometimes confusing payment rates for the commercial insurance companies.
There is also medicare with its own system of rates, basic and add-on choices, which in turn are adjusted to factors like geographical regions, etc. Then there are those patients who elect to pay directly, rather than buying a medical insurance policy. So, even in countries like the US, the same kinds of doctors serve different patient groups from different segments of society with many different payment rates for the same medical conditions.
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