Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Subsidizing a health care provider on site - dose it attract the already frail?

[Saramandaia Farm (etaincr]

I'm in complete agreement with Martin about the US medical system(s),  and have 
run up against the proverbial brick wall trying to combine  solutions for our 
own long-term needs (we're 60 and 71, no health  problems at all) with 
affordable housing in the US and my wish to  practice medicine on a very 
part-time basis for chunks of time...kind  of like job-sharing/co-housing/home 
exchange.  This seems not  really to be the right forum for discussing personal 
solutions.   But I'll post anyway...maybe someone would like to respond 
off-list:)
  
  I'm a family doctor living outside the US (less expensive, less  government 
intrusion, and it's my home after 35 years here).  I  have no health insurance 
coverage in the US and couldn't afford to buy  a home at the prices I see in 
co-housing communities...unless we sold  what we already own, or I worked 
full-time.  We designed our lives  to date to be much more flexible than that.  
We could just stay  where we are, but we also have 2 grown kids living in the 
US, and  grandchildren there (Seattle area).  So it's a funny situation for  
us.  We'd like to live for several months of the year in a  co-housing setting. 
 I'm a board-certified family doc, US trained  and licensed,  and would enjoy 
working for a few months of the  year.  We're debt-free and own our own home 
and farm...lots of  land, 3 houses.    Also, we have a 16 year old homeschooled 
 daughter.  How to put that into a plan that suits all needs, or at  least some 
of them, has thus far escaped us.  People in the
 US  seem REALLY bound to calendars...school calendars, rigid vacation  
schedules; there are  few sabbatical-takers, not too many people  who seem 
willing to consider somewhat more radical (or adventurous, if  you prefer) 
options.  
  
  I see that most of the concerns on the list deal with either community  
social problems or engineering/design/legal dilemmas applicable mainly  to the 
US and to people with full-time jobs, mortgages, and no serious  intention to 
change that.  So the thread about aging in community  is interesting in that 
it's kind of a departure from the mainstream  discussions.  It appealed to me 
because I could see (if I lived in  a co-housing community) being able to take 
care of people in my  professional capacity.  It could also mean falling right 
into the  malpractice, regulation, tight-assed stuff that's driving docs to 
leave  the field.  Still....maybe doctors who are actually part of the  
co-housing community would be an answer for some...I know I'd be  interested. 
  
  I'd welcome any thoughts or recommendations of other lists that might  be 
more appropriate.  And thank you to the people who already  wrote with a few 
ideas.
  
  Sharon
  
  
  
  
                
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