A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Has anyone thought about writing a letter to the President? - Tired

Posted: Jun 22, 2014

Not necessarily pen and paper, but I saw where one can email the President. I don't know if anyone has done this or not regarding the sad state of affairs our profession has become, but it might be worth a try. I will do it even if no one else does. I mean, what could it hurt? Of course, it would be in a respectful way and all. Otherwise, I will see the men in the dark suits at my door. I will explain about what it used to be like and then what it has become, offshoring, crappy voice recognition, etc. I'm all for electronic medical records, but don't give up the quality of the reports done by dedicated transcriptionists for VR and point-and-click disasters. The docs that do Dragon where I worked, their reports looked horrible. Could not make head nor tails of some. I think I will write the POTUS and see where it goes. Again, can't hurt.

Do you think letter writing campaign would have help phone - operators way back when? sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Or the ice man, or the guy that lit the street lights? But go ahead and write your letter. Like you said, it can't hurt.

Or, you could use your time wisely in - learning a new field.

[ In Reply To ..]
Just move on! If you could do MT, you are smart enough to learn something else!

The problem is not that patient care is suffering because of VR or point and click. It is that you have hit on this idea to support your interest in turning back the clock to the way things were.

There are many things you could do that would use your knowledge. Why not find something to learn so that you can get a better job?

Good advice if one is 35, not worth much if - one is almost 65.

[ In Reply To ..]
Getting more education is a good thing, but in terms of getting a new job as a senior, it's too much of a longshot to risk my money on.

Oh I have written the President many times! sm - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
You can write him and I got responses but probably not from him. The responses were websites to go to help me get a job.

I told him about outsourcing and how it cost us our jobs, etc. I don't write anymore and they don't send me emails about news, etc. I decided I had enough and asked them to stop. But you can actually write to the White House!

Good luck!

Not only can you write the White House, I called the - White House myself

[ In Reply To ..]
When New Orleans was hit by Katrina I sat here day after day with the TV on watching the misery caused. This lasted about a week and Friday morning I called the White House. My thoughts were if the US could drop food and water to countries from helicopters or planes, then why not our own country? It was extremely early, supposed got the WH switchboard and then I typed up and faxed a letter there. I never got a reply of any kind (during last Bush admininstration) but I just could not stand by and fill my throat almost closing on me and not say how I felt about the people's situation there.

so bottom line is you got nowhere calling/writing. - but sure felt good. NM

[ In Reply To ..]
and that sucks.

Actually, was not as bad as you are thinking it - was

[ In Reply To ..]
More than anything else I got it off my chest and that felt good for me. I really never expected someone to answer the call and put me thru, just like I never expected a response to my letter but like I said, good for me to say what I wanted.

You know, you're right - just think

[ In Reply To ..]
if all the employees at the buggy-whip factories had just written to the president, the tide of technology would have been stopped in its tracks, we'd all be riding around in horse-drawn carriages, and all the buggy-whip makers would still have their jobs just exactly the way they always were.

This is exactly why I don't post much on here... - Tired

[ In Reply To ..]
I had an honest idea and was asking for an opinion, not spouting my right-wing or left-wing thoughts. The only thing this post had to do with politics is I mentioned the President. Thank you to those that didn't have negative things to say. To the others, thanks for nothing.

I have heard he chooses a letter to respond - to every day

[ In Reply To ..]
I will give it a go one day if I ever get the time.

I am frankly amazed at so many people who think our profession is dying, yet who seem to have so much time to spend telling people to get out of our profession on our professional board.

What's with that, anyway? I know if I thought this profession was so bad and found myself a new one, this is the last place I would be hanging around telling people to get out. Very suspect, IMHO.

I have a second MT job which is from another country. That country consistently rates better than the US in many social issues and standard of living, health care, etc. I get paid more by that one and it is straight typing.

So maybe this talk of being obsolete might not be happening as quickly as so many seem to want it to? Honestly, I don't know, but I do think ours is a profession worth saving and may not be as hopeless as many seem to think.

I think a lot of us who are out of MT come back - out of curiosity. (sm)

[ In Reply To ..]
We know the field is dying. The only question now is when it takes its last breath. I come back to see how it all goes down. To see what kind of lies and spin the MTSOs come up with, and to hear about how other MTs got out, or what they're doing after being out. I've also been very interested in the Nuance lawsuit, and how that will all play out.

I would probably do that too - to look that is - but NOT to chicken little

[ In Reply To ..]
This stuff about the end of times! and get out while you can! is what is suspect to me and frankly annoying.

If it is such a dire profession and headed down the tubes (we all know our work situations have become pretty unacceptable, but then many of us don't have a lot of choices), let us losers find out for ourselves.

Some have made it out and somehow think everyone now has to quit and find something else. This job is still a job and is still better than other jobs, especially when you are limited by where you live and other modifiers.

So I have no objection to people coming here "out of curiosity" - I just wish all the admonitions about better run, better get out, etc., would stop.

If the end of MT times is this year, like so many people have been saying (for the last 10 years), I hope then, if we are completely automated or completely offshored, we might at least be able to finally be given uncontested UE for six months and that, to me, is worth holding out for rather than quitting and working for McDonald's.

So what exactly do you consider to be a reason - for staying in MT? It seems - S/M

[ In Reply To ..]
there are little to no reasons these days. Could you in good conscience recommend this dying field to a naive newbie/wannabe? I sure couldn't.

And it IS dying. It's not happening slowly enough for some, or fast enough for others. But it's creeping inexorably along, just like the San Andreas Fault. Every so often, there is a jolt, but it never goes back in the direction from which it came. Just slowly, inevitably, forward towards the next catastrophe.

Oh no, I could not recommend it - I can only give my reason

[ In Reply To ..]
Despite the fact that my salary has been halved, it is still more than I could make in the outside world where I live right now.

Living in the one horse town where I ended up, if I did get any job it would be half an hour away with the costs of transportation, clothes, and the salaries are abysmal, meaning I would be probably making even less than I am with MT.

The tradeoff would be paid holidays and maybe some self respect, but I have really never had a "real" job that didn't involve working with some jerks, and that's another perk of this one.

I wish I had more choices, I wish there were tons of jobs out there that paid as well or better for our distinct set of skills, but I think we all know they don't exist.

So all these posters egging others to leave this profession kind of bug me (not you, obviously).

Sometimes I wonder if people get paid to post these, I do know there are sites offering that you can get paid a couple of cents per post or more, and pardon my paranoia, but wouldn't it suit the MTSOs to creepily get in there and try to nudge us out the door so they don't have to pay UI or justify their offshoring?

I am going to do some more research and find out of that is why there seems to be really a lot of these posters on here lately urging people to get out and get out fast, learn something new, don't be a burden on the unemployment, blah blah, etc. Frankly, the reasons they give of trying to "help" and "warn others" just don't ring true to me.

Some come back to help others get out - Also got out years ago

[ In Reply To ..]
I got out years ago, but come back to help others get out and to discourage wannabees from pursuing this. Now, though, it has become a waste of time. the ones who were going to get out have gotten out. With the exception of an increasing number of hospital employees who must have had their head in the sand and got blindsided by the whole concept of EHRs, it seems that most of those remaining think they are too old or that they don't have any marketable skills, or they hate being around other people in a workplace, or they waited so long they are now destitute, or they want to be fired so they can collect unemployment. It all speaks for itself.

If I ever get out of here - I will never be back to this site

[ In Reply To ..]
I won't even want to THINK about MT when I'm gone (24 months, God willing).

Well, then - waste of time for you

[ In Reply To ..]
We obviously are not deserving of your "help" so I hope you can find greener pastures somewhere to partake of your wisdom.

It does speak for itself. Again, if I escaped and thought this was such a horrible profession, I would never be caught dead spending hours on this board trying to advise us dummies.

I got let go in my sixties, and in all honesty, - sm- Manual Typewriter Original

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm enjoying it. I do odd jobs on the side, and am getting by. I'm still looking for and applying for work, but the writing on the wall there is that no one seems to want a 62-year-old new employee, regardless of skill set.

For that reason, I think Unemployment should only have a limited run for younger recipients. If a company is going to fire a senior, then that senior should be eligible for LIFETIME unemployment benefits. It might make some companies think twice about laying off good, hard-working seniors just because of their age, their higher pay rate, or their seniority on the job.

62 is nothing- phooey, baloney on what you - said

[ In Reply To ..]
Might be the "I'm over the hill" attitude that is doing it for you. I got the present job I now have (am 71 at this time) at probably around 65 or a little over. Age never has played a part with me.

I think you're right. At 62, she might want/need to work for 10 more years. - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
x

62 is nothiing- - If you are 71

[ In Reply To ..]
and got your job at 65 that was 6 years ago. Unfortunately the job market has changed drastically over the last 6 years. How many new accounts have the MTSO taken over during that period of time. How many other changes have been made in the employment world during that time? If you have been there 6 years, then you have not experienced what the poster has looking for a job.

Seriously, the market has not changed that - dramatically, read older postings here

[ In Reply To ..]
You would see the same thing over and over and over, the age issue, the lack of work issue and others. I have read these postings for years now. They do not change. I have lost 2 jobs to outsourcing, one in my 40s, one in my 50s and another job I quit in my 60s. You do not have to put down your age so how do people know how old you are and it has never mattered in my case.

Why do people think that their own experience - is the same for everyone?

[ In Reply To ..]
It works for me, therefore, it must work for you. Bah!

What can he do? Commiserate? No law has - been broken.

[ In Reply To ..]
We, for the most part, are independently contracting, self-employed business associates. (Yes, we are basically treated like employees with shift work, required to use certain tools, and are given stringent rules to follow and told how to conduct our work/business and when. Technically, we should be considered employees - complain to the department of labor/hour and wage board but get your whistle ready.) It's like the roofer or carpenter who underbids the job and loses money. Too many of those and he isn't in business anymore.

Unfortunately, if the majority choose to work for free or nearly free and under ridiculous conditions... there is no law against it and the MTSOs would be nuts to pay more money since they obviously don't have to, and there isn't anything anybody can do about it.

They are having their cake and eating it, too. We used to know what that felt like. :) People are able to post jobs for 6.5 or 5 cents per line and not be embarassed about it and actually make a very decent living sub subcontracting. You can get an American now, where you used to only could get an Indian and all that that entailed. You can double your money and if you hire enough, if someone slacks/flakes you can cover it. Very, very shrewd. It's nickel and dime but it adds up to $. You only need a few accouns at 9 cpl or so and enough PT MTs to do the work. You double your income. The changing face of medical records documentation. I don't think they like call us MTs anymore.

Well, that's one of the problems. The laws - should be changed. (nm)

[ In Reply To ..]

I emailed Obama and he took care of the problem - Nancy

[ In Reply To ..]
I did not go into a lot of detail about the MT situation, but did explain the financial hardship and how IRS attached my disability for taxes owed in a previous year. Explained all I did to communicate with IRS, how you could NOT get a human on the phone, how I set up an auto debit to my checking account for $25. per month (all I could afford) and how they completely ignored that and continued to add penalties for non-payment, refusing to accept what I could afford. A month later I got a call from a supervisor with IRS, first very nice person to talk to, who said that Obama ordered the lien against my disability check removed and they would like to do an installment agreement for what I can afford to pay. This was about 9 months ago and I've had no problems with them since. Before this it dragged out for over a year without resolution.

I am so glad your issue was taken care of - Also wrote higher up 1 time and got help myself

[ In Reply To ..]
Years ago my step-grandchildren came to live at my home for 2 years. Their grandfather died (my husband), they went to live elsewhere and eventually picked up by DFACs. I tried to see them, could not so wrote the governor's office and within about a week had numerous calls helping me out all because of my letter. Sometimes it helps to go to the top. You did, I did.

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