my ee TRO Mee ET SER ET Se oe

A New. York travel a agency has arranged a.
$2,200-a-head our highlighted by a four-
ccourse-lunch ‘with: Prince Charles’ future
parents-in-law, Earl. and Countess Spencer
_ wine, polite conversation and the butler’s
tip all included. If only that: kind of tour
package had been available in 1775, America
would probably still be a loyal British colony.:

: arene ee
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<a sxx &

-here’ is

cow-flap.i As

his role of stenpercincthe-
g.adequately —

Iliness isn’t something that. happens ig

between nine and five, Monday through Friday. It _
happens 168 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. That,
fundamentally, is why the:doctors are pressing for

a fee increase appreciably bigger than the B.C.
government’s 15.2 per cent offer. -

Just to keep you abreast of
the latest round in the battle,
‘the basic
mathematics of the situation.
— starting with overhead.

Doctors’ incomes in the
$80,000-$100,000. range
sound, of course,
astronomical. But actually

they are not “income” at all |

in the sense that the ordinary
wage or salary carner un-
derstands the term.

Financially speaking, the
doctor is running an in-
dividual business. What the
government calls gross
“income”, all other
businesses call revenue.
Income . starts. only after
business expenses have been
met.

In. the ; average doctor's
case these expenses include
a medical

professional business.

Half a dozen current case |
histories. show | ‘annual. ex-
from $31,000,
to $41,700, + with $36,000 -

penses ran

probably a fair. median

figure. Take that off the top_
right away — leaving, our.

$80,000 g.p. with a gross
taxes, of $44,000.

recep-|
tionist/clerk, office rent and. |
the dozen-and-one sundry.

costs that go wth any other. tax pay as a $30 (000-a-year

2 TAX BITE
What alarms most doc-
tors, incidentally, is the rate

- at which fixed overhead. is

soaring. In some Cases it has
reportedly risen by 20 per
cent or more over the past
12-18 months. Whither next
- year?

working wife and two
children, his income tax on
" $44,000 could be $13,530,
reducing tske-home pay to
$30,470. But that's not the
end of it. He also has to pay
for his own vacation,
disability insurance, medical

and dental coverage, and’

pension plan.
Deduct another $6,000,
bringing the eventual value
of his take-home pay to
, $24,470 ~~ a long descent
from $80,000 but still pretty
comfortable, you. might
think. About the same after-

 palary earner.

In the case. of the salary
earner it works out at ground
$12.50 an hour, all his to

‘kesp, with evenings and
weekends likely free. Even
rad that spells quite a nice

fa the case of the doctor

ASAANANTINOAARER Is NROYODABCE a “‘personals-ineome,». <before «+ things are wilitdodiferent,

The average medico

‘by another - western:
Liberal. You.. don't-—need.

If our g.p. has a non- “4

tone
‘the op.
you

| “po!
end::a ‘helping
‘out a colleague

imany friends left for.
‘oct in’ that Gepart-—

performance over. the
resignation’ of: one-time
ral candidate Doris’

claimed no "British prime

his * drawn “our:

prime minister in. “1809 and.
“was killed three years. later

n from the Advisory ‘;

minister. had . = ever been
-North’ Shore: gentleman ‘has

Spencer Perceval. ©
.-Perceval ‘was a British
cabinet minister: around the

century: under George’ II.
He eventually _ rose to be:

by . what the encyclopedia’
describes | as “a bankrert
mi

. of ‘the Status ‘of. Th: ’s

© something new every da

Noel Wright
a
works anywhere. from 55 to
65 hours a week.’ During
weekends and other periods
when he’s “on call” the
working week may nudge 90
‘hours. People have this
infuriating habit of getting
sick any time they choose —
evenings, nights, Saturdays,
Sundays and public holidays. -
A’ 60-hour work week is a
pretty safe average for the
majority of doctors. So our
$80,000 g.p. winds up, in the
end, with about $8.16 an

hour and probably ‘too little
time for his family.

sm PRESERYES GUARDED. ; aw

In part, however, _ the

“ students of the health ser- ..
vices have estimated that up ©.

:day.
Our pologies to: ‘the © ghost of

the doctors tae “A

to 50 per cent of the average ~
g.p.’s work could ‘be done
perfectly efficiently by less
costly. nurses), and °. “other
paramedic personnel —
from syringing ‘cars © to
delivering babies. —
_That’s what happens in
other: countries. But the

_North’. American medical

establishment has . always
jealously, guarded its
preserves, insisting that only
‘the doctor himself can be
trusted to handle even the
most trivial complaints.

. Today, in B.C., the cost of
this. philosophy is coming
home to roost, But until the
law is changed, the doctors’
claim that they are over-
worked in ‘relation to the
money that finally finds its
way into their: pockets will
persist.

They don’t need ‘the 41.2
per cent for which the B,C.
Medical Association has dug
in its heels, But as Jong as the
(present system. continues,
they ‘certainly have a per-
~ suasive case for. something
better than Victoria's
current 15.2 per cent
proposal. Their passion for
work — even if partially self-

mposed — gives quite a few
of them an hourly rate lower
than that of the mechanic
who fixes your transmission.
* ~Io-fairnoss,-the. dactori fix
rather more vital things.