Essay on "Doctor's Fees Health Care"

Essay 2 pages (730 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

The author mentions the example of the excellent doctor as opposed to a physician who is merely average. Both received the same amount of required training. There is nothing to distinguish them except patient experience. With this lack of indicator in terms of quality, it is difficult to monitor the effectiveness of the health care system or to determine areas where improvements are needed. Currently, individual doctors are expected to take responsibility for their own excellence. There are no market forces to encourage them to do so. This affects the quality of care received by patients as well as what doctors are able to give.

Salter (2000), in turn, suggests that regulating doctor's fees might hold the additional danger of artificially creating certain market trends in favor of government agendas and big business rather than in fact the health of the population. Large pharmaceutical companies, for example, might be encouraged to market a certain product to doctors, who would then prescribe this to their patients without truly understanding the potential dangers of using such products. On the other hand, a doctor who is part of a market where competition is at the order of the day would be concerned with providing the best of care to his or her patients and would therefore investigate all the options before prescribing.

In conclusion, government regulation of doctor's fees has repercussions that are ultimately to the detriment of health care in general and patients specifically. Instead, public funding ought to be applied towards creating a more effective system of health care that would benefit all stakeholders, including the increasingly strained government treasury.
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