Florida PIP No-Fault: Do You Have a Career as a Chiropractor?

Florida PIP No-Fault:  Do You Have a Career as a Chiropractor?

Dr. Alan Himmel

Imagine a career in which you spend at least eight years preparing for, between undergraduate and professional school.  Now imagine taking several national board exams and a State Board Exam.  Now, you wait anxiously and with excitement to start your life as a health care provider.

At the end of all this, you are licenced (if you pass the State exam), which by the way means exactly nothing in terms of your ability to pay back student loans, let alone having enough money to eat.

Next, you find out that in your State (the State you decided to be licensed and settle down) there is a never ending fight between the insurance lobby and the health care professionals.  If the insurance lobby wins, you are simply out of a job, and have wasted the last decade of your life, and over a $100,000 in student loans.

I know, I know.  Cash Practice, right?  We don't need insurance... Okay.  Lets get back to planet earth.

You cannot prepare for your future as a chiropractor in Florida.  You cannot comfortably invest the overhead and the expense of an office, or comfortably have a family, a house, etc.

And, people ask me why don't I get myself a nicer car?  After all, you're "a doctor."

I see kids driving new cars all the time.  If a kid can afford it, certainly a doctor can, too.  Well, maybe so.  But the difference is that the 20 year old kid who has just bought a new car, does not have to constantly read the newspaper every day, and worry that his livelihood has been taken away.  Also, he likely does not have the expenses of someone who has just graduated and is trying to get on his feet. He may still have a future, whereas chiropractors in this state, may not have a career, in the long haul.  The 20 year old can more easily plan a future.  A chiropractor in Florida cannot plan ahead, without worrying it could all be taken away.

Interesting that when I graduated almost 18 years ago, I remember doing some "fill in work" for a DC who was going out on a seminar.  He had been practicing a very long time--maybe like 30 years or more.  He is long retired at this point.  He said to me, and I will never forget:  "I feel sorry for whoever is coming into this profession at this time."

I didn't know exactly what he meant.  He had a busy and thriving practice.  What could be so bad?

I think that the big deal for chiropractors in Florida is the uncertainty.