Is Heath care losing its charm as a recession proof career ?
Health care has long been viewed as a recession proof career. The logic was that people will always get sick – regardless of economic conditions. In fact more people get sick in a recession as they don’t have the money to take preventive care. According to the Department of Labor, careers in nursing are skyrocketing, even with a recession looming. But the continuing recession of 2008/2009 has proven that every job is at risk. The number of layoffs in health care has seen a steady rise in the past few months.
The last few months we have seen a number of hospitals lay off workers. Patients with no insurance, who do not take preventive measures, routinely end up in the ER and the hospital has to write off the cost. Physicians’ offices are also struggling. The number of patients they see everyday is going down as more people lose jobs and their medical insurance. With no insurance, patients postpone elective procedures and put off non life threatening operations. That has a ripple effect on doctors, hospitals and other health care facilities. The pharmaceutical industry is also feeling the effects as more people shift to generic drugs.
At the same time physician practice expenses are rising while insurance reimbursement is falling. A number of private practice physicians will take a 30% – 40% pay cut this year. As a result, we will see a number of practices that will merge to take advantage of economies of scale. In the process, more jobs will be eliminated. So no, healthcare is not immune to the recession at all. It may not be as bad as the financial sector, but it too is feeling the ripple effects. If you are planning on switching careers to the Health care sector, our advise is to do so only if you are passionate about it and not because it is a recession proof career.
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