Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

by Atul Gawande

year. But then I’d have to spend thirty-one thousand dollars a year on malpractice insurance and eighty thousand dollars a year to rent office and clinic space. I’d have to buy computers and other office equipment and hire a secretary and a medical assistant or a nurse. The department of surgery deducts 19.5 percent for its overhead. Then there are the patients who don’t have insurance and can’t afford to pay—15 percent of Americans are uninsured, and like many other doctors, I believe we’re obligated to care for such patients insofar as we can. Furthermore, even when patients are insured, some insurance companies pay far less than others. Studies also indicate that insurers find a reason to reject payment for up to 30 percent of the bills they receive.

when some patients dont have onsurance