Why don't more liberals become doctors and work pro bono?

[Akrazotile]

It's a hell of a lot of work, but I mean, these people are all about helping others, right?


How come more of these guys aren't taking out loans and grinding through 8 grueling years so they can work for salaries just barely enough to pay back their loans with little personal financial gain or extravagance.


This would help lower the cost of healthcare TREMENDOUSLY. We wouldn't have to have these fights about who is paying for whom and all that stuff. We just need more liberals to work as doctors for below market value.


Step up liberals! This is your chance. You guys are always doing the "kumbaya, do your fair share" stuff when it comes to other peoples' time and money, right? Put down that major in french poetry, and pick up that pre-med text book!


LE'GGOOO!!!!

[DeuceWallaces]

Why don't more Starface's become college graduates?

[RidonKs]

because one thing has nothing to do with the other

if i dedicate my to life stealing money from exiled murderous dictators and giving all of it to widowed mothers to feed their children while i myself live on scraps in an alleyway... am i living a virtuous life?

the question is meaningless. lives aren't more or less virtuous. they're just more or less meaningful to the people around you from your closest circle to somebody halfway around the world.

if the goal is to help the less fortunate to reach their potential, becoming a doctor purely for the sake of giving away my talent is a really shitty way of going about it. in fact its the shittiest. the best analogy is thinking you're having an effect on climate change by moving off the grid and becoming a hermit in a bog or some shit. that's ludicrous. you're having no effect whatsoever and pursuing purely self-interested goals.

you don't try to help others through ultimate sacrifice and making yourself as miserable as possible... that's asceticism and it's an affliction like depression and should be treated.

you take actions with the biggest multiplier effect on the broader population. that means working with others to build support for movements that can implement change on a large scale.

if i personally were to become a doctor for the meek and charge only the bare minimum so i can stay alive, it would have no effect whatsoever on the cost of health care across the country. all it would probably do in the long term is make me resent the people i'm trying to help.

[Akrazotile]

because one thing has nothing to do with the other

if i dedicate my to life stealing money from exiled murderous dictators and giving all of it to widowed mothers to feed their children while i myself live on scraps in an alleyway... am i living a virtuous life?

the question is meaningless. lives aren't more or less virtuous. they're just more or less meaningful to the people around you from your closest circle to somebody halfway around the world.

if the goal is to help the less fortunate to reach their potential, becoming a doctor purely for the sake of giving away my talent is a really shitty way of going about it. in fact its the shittiest. the best analogy is thinking you're having an effect on climate change by moving off the grid and becoming a hermit in a bog or some shit. that's ludicrous. you're having no effect whatsoever and pursuing purely self-interested goals.

you don't try to help others through ultimate sacrifice and making yourself as miserable as possible... that's asceticism and it's an affliction like depression and should be treated.

you take actions with the biggest multiplier effect on the broader population. that means working with others to build support for movements that can implement change on a large scale.

if i personally were to become a doctor for the meek and charge only the bare minimum so i can stay alive, it would have no effect whatsoever on the cost of health care across the country. all it would probably do in the long term is make me resent the people i'm trying to help.

But if a bunch of liberals did, and it increased the market supply of doctors by 30% rather than those same folks becoming ipad designers for apple, don't you think it would help reduce the cost of healthcare for errbody?

[Norcaliblunt]

That's why we need the fed to cough up those no interest student loans.

[RidonKs]

But if a bunch of liberals did, and it increased the market supply of doctors by 30% rather than those same folks becoming ipad designers for apple, don't you think it would help reduce the cost of healthcare for errbody?

how am i supposed to get "a bunch of liberals" to do that? i mean i can do it myself, and maybe i can run around trying to convince other people to do the same, running myself ragged at the same time almost certainly at a cost to the quality of care i'm managing to provide to my patients.... but again, i'm not going to have much success nor am i going to have an impact.

you're trying to paint compassionate people into a corner of hypocrisy by saying "well why dont you do this?". it's completely transparent for starters. but it also just doesn't make much sense since your plug for what they ought to do actually does very little to forward their interests.

[Akrazotile]

how am i supposed to get "a bunch of liberals" to do that? i mean i can do it myself, and maybe i can run around trying to convince other people to do the same, running myself ragged at the same time almost certainly at a cost to the quality of care i'm managing to provide to my patients.... but again, i'm not going to have much success nor am i going to have an impact.

you're trying to paint compassionate people into a corner of hypocrisy by saying "well why dont you do this?". it's completely transparent for starters. but it also just doesn't make much sense since your plug for what they ought to do actually does very little to forward their interests.

Wtf is this bro, 1937?? We have dat lil ol thing called the internet. You don't have to run anywhere.

Make a website (takes 15 minutes) and encourage other liberals to take the pledge.

If you're about helping the less fortunate, don't go off into some career selling widgets for your personal financial gain, get educated in medicine so you can increase the supply of affordable doctors in America.


What's the big deal?

[m1sterb]

how am i supposed to get "a bunch of liberals" to do that? i mean i can do it myself, and maybe i can run around trying to convince other people to do the same, running myself ragged at the same time almost certainly at a cost to the quality of care i'm managing to provide to my patients.... but again, i'm not going to have much success nor am i going to have an impact.

you're trying to paint compassionate people into a corner of hypocrisy by saying "well why dont you do this?". it's completely transparent for starters. but it also just doesn't make much sense since your plug for what they ought to do actually does very little to forward their interests.

Nothing makes a liberal happier than when they demonstrate their caring for others by spending someone else's money and not their own.

[RidonKs]

just make a website. i guess that's how you convince anybody of anything. it's easy guys! just make a website!

LETS! MAKE! A WEBSITE!

again, being a social justice warrior (that's a typically prejorative term but it doesn't have to be) is about getting the best bang for your buck. i argue with you about this stuff on insidehoops. nowhere near as much as i used to, but here i am. it's primarily cuz i like doing it but i also in the back of my head hope that somebody out there is reading this and learning something. pretty arrogant of me but i don't think i'm alone in that regard. i nevertheless understand that the effect my writing this post will have on the way other people think about the issues we're discussing is like a speck of dust in the universe. marginal at best, probably nada.

so you're constantly looking for that multiplier effect. working within the constraints and circumstances you happen to find yourself in, employing the right tactics to net maximal returns on your finite time and energy.

i don't think becoming a pro bono doctor myself or even convincing other people to do that is a very pragmatic use of my resources. i think i'd have a really hard time convincing people to do that and i know i'd never do it myself. that doesn't make me a hypocrite. it just makes me a human being.

and there are way way way more effective ways to get affordable health care to less fortunate people than the hackneyed method you're suggesting here. it's just a really really bad strategy.

[RidonKs]

Nothing makes a liberal happier than when they demonstrate their caring for others by spending someone else's money and not their own.

when all of the money is concentrated in so few pockets, and the concentration is growing and growing, which it is and at an accelerating rate... where else is the money supposed to come from?

[Akrazotile]

when all of the money is concentrated in so few pockets, and the concentration is growing and growing, which it is and at an accelerating rate... where else is the money supposed to come from?

That's where DOING comes in. Be a doctor. Obtain the knowledge, and share it free of cost. Who needs to worry about little paper notes when you can share your knowledge to help people directly?


How you gonna help others when you're not actually willing to help others? Passing the buck to a guy who makes more than you will never really solve the problem. He'll figure out a way to make it back before the poor guy can even spend it on the right things.

Being a doctor doesn't mean you can't also try and spread ideas and concepts to a large audience. But at least you're doing SOMETHING tangible.


But, I guess you just can't be bothered. It's not in your interests to really help others. Of course, when it's time to judge someone with a bigger bank account... then you're back in the "im all about helping others" business..

[chosen_one6]

when all of the money is concentrated in so few pockets, and the concentration is growing and growing, which it is and at an accelerating rate... where else is the money supposed to come from?

Keep speaking that truth man. I read everything you said and I'm right there with you.

[chosen_one6]

That's where DOING comes in. Be a doctor. Obtain the knowledge, and share it free of cost. Who needs to worry about little paper notes when you can share your knowledge to help people directly?


How you gonna help others when you're not actually willing to help others? Passing the buck to a guy who makes more than you will never really solve the problem. He'll figure out a way to make it back before the poor guy can even spend it on the right things.

Being a doctor doesn't mean you can't also try and spread ideas and concepts to a large audience. But at least you're doing SOMETHING tangible.


But, I guess you just can't be bothered. It's not in your interests to really help others. Of course, when it's time to judge someone with a bigger bank account... then you're back in the "im all about helping others" business..

You can't offer a service like that with no profit. Then you have no resources to expand or upgrade facilities, medicine, tools, etc.

Your logic is flawed my man. A better idea would be offering free higher education to the masses, or at least much, much more discounted like it used to be in the 50's, 60's and 70's. More educated society = more people that are making money = stimulated economy where people are more willing to spend and more willing to help others. When there's not enough to go around people want to keep to themselves.

[RidonKs]

the issue isn't "become a doctor and work for free" or "do nothing"\

it's "become a doctor and work for free" or "do any number of other far more effective things to reach your objectives"


making health care more affordable requires collective action. that collective action can take many different forms, all starting at the individual level. one of the ways that individual level can begin is by doing what you're suggesting. i'm saying that's a really dumb way to get people affordable care.

just a heads up, all over the world there are these things called public health care systems. some are better some are worse. the canadian one is actually among the least efficient in the world... though that has a lot to do with our federalist makeup but that's a different story.

these public systems provide quality care for everybody. nobody gets turned away. it was an excellent way to bring health care to people who wouldn't otherwise have been able to afford it. that is what we're talking about, right?

now if in the early 1960s our prime minister lester pearson had opted to promote a national health strategy that involved heavy advertising trying to get random people to become doctors and then give away their talent.... that is, instead of passing the canada health act which is what he actually did? well the end result today, 50 years down the road, would have been that a lot of people during that time span wouldn't have gotten health care.

again, the reason your idea is stupid is because its ineffective and wouldn't work as well as a whole bunch of other strategies. it has nothing to do with lazy liberals who would rather snatch a dollar our of a fatcat's couch cushion than go to med school for 8 years.

[Akrazotile]

the issue isn't "become a doctor and work for free" or "do nothing"\

it's "become a doctor and work for free" or "do any number of other far more effective things to reach your objectives"


making health care more affordable requires collective action. that collective action can take many different forms, all starting at the individual level. one of the ways that individual level can begin is by doing what you're suggesting. i'm saying that's a really dumb way to get people affordable care.

just a heads up, all over the world there are these things called public health care systems. some are better some are worse. the canadian one is actually among the least efficient in the world... though that has a lot to do with our federalist makeup but that's a different story.

these public systems provide quality care for everybody. nobody gets turned away. it was an excellent way to bring health care to people who wouldn't otherwise have been able to afford it. that is what we're talking about, right?

now if in the early 1960s our prime minister lester pearson had opted to promote a national health strategy that involved heavy advertising trying to get random people to become doctors and then give away their talent.... that is, instead of passing the canada health act which is what he actually did? well the end result today, 50 years down the road, would have been that a lot of people during that time span wouldn't have gotten health care.

again, the reason your idea is stupid is because its ineffective and wouldn't work as well as a whole bunch of other strategies. it has nothing to do with lazy liberals who would rather snatch a dollar our of a fatcat's couch cushion than go to med school for 8 years.

But if you took those steps AND added 30% more doctors, it would have an even bigger impact, right?


I mean, you can't deny that one of the driving factors of health care costs is simply 350,000,000 potential patients and a limited supply of doctors. It's fundamental economics. Most doctors operate for profit and that's reflected in the cost of healthcare.

If a bunch of people entered the market with the purpose of providing affordable care, the increase of supply would reduce the cost to the consumer. Which would be very, very helpful to the less fortunate.



I mean if you wanna make excuses it's cool, I'm not trying to tell you what career to have. I'm just sayin, breuh. It'd be like a nice thing to do for others. I'm just sayin.