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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

As U.S. citizens wages fall/jobs are lost, expect your taxes to increase.

Posted By: Do the math. on 2005-07-31
In Reply to:

and one day, the editors will be overseas, as well, eventually. Glad you are not stressing over it like me.


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    And don't forget that 30% of your IC wages need to go for taxes, too. nm
    s
    Keep in mind..taxes for gambling wins, bonuses etc.. fall into a different category. Usually more li
    We love Vegas..and one year we actually won enough to have to pay taxes it was pretty close to 50% of the win..It's just like getting a bonus..not under a regular tax rate like 30%. Also our win was more like $5000 ..nothing compared to yours..I would definitely get a financial planner so that you can invest your money wisely and make it go further..$500,000 in this day and age will go quickly..I would probably work PT so I could spend more time with my family.  As it turns out, my life is also about to change in that we're selling a multi-million dollar business property and even though my husband wants me to stop working, it wont happen..I"d go crazy..but I'd like to stop working 70-90 hours a week and at least go to 40..which is PT for me LOL>.
    jobs don't fall off trees, have you noticed?
    and the state labor board is like AAMT (s/b IAMT, Indian Assoc of Med. Trans.) not REALLY for the employee, if you know what I mean. Have they done anything for you?
    Taxes lost due to offshoring
    Just curious.  Does our country in any way benefit from wages paid to offshore MTs when so much is being offshored these days.  Would our government not be better off getting their tax dollars from US salaries.  Perhaps I am missing something here.  As I said, just curious about this.
    I don't expect to be paid OT. I need access to jobs during my shift.
    I have a line count to meet. If the system goes down or something happens causing me to not be able to have work, for 3 and 1/2 years, I was able to make up time on my day off.
    I like you have lost jobs
    to outsourcing and have been doing VR now (at lower cost) for about 4 years. I am unaware of Dictaphone situation, please tell me more about this and exactly what it is. Thanks. Oh, 1 thing I want to tell you is I think VR is much more able to pickup your ESLs BETTER than some of the English speaking people. I am very surprised at how well it does. Never thought it would be able to, almost word for word in fact.
    Have totally lost count of how many PF "grads" could not get jobs.
    There have been a few people who were lucky, but not many. It's a waste of money.
    Going in the summer or the fall? If the fall, you need to be there early enough while the colors
    s
    I was hit by all 3 that summer, I lost power, I lost work, I lost savings...but..sm
    NEVER did my employer in any way imply or threaten or dare even mention that my job was in jeopardy because I could not work immediately following a trifecta of natural disasters! My jaw agape is not at your concern about working, but at your concern that you would lose your job because of it. Companies have to have a heart in some situations. You're one MT, your company won't go under without you working for a week or 2 or 3.
    Help citizens, yes. Do everything for them that they should have done themselves?
    NO!!! If each of them had filled up empty milk jugs and their bathtubs or kiddie wading pools with water when they were told to, they wouldn't be standing in line. We should be helping those who cannot help themselves, not those who refuse to help themselves.
    about 25-33% for all US citizens as I know it....nm
    x
    I recently lost 20 pounds. That means I lost 80 sticks of butter.

    Citizens against Medical Offshoring
    spread the word - become proactive - fight for our jobs I found this website this morning
    http://www.ericacodes.com/camio.html Also, check out the discussion list - its a little outdated (couple of months) but everything needs a fresh start, a little boost somtimes
    I doubt your brother has won more than he's lost. To win that much he's probably lost 3 times
    So he probably has more bills than money. Otherwise the casinos would go broke.
    Missing kids/citizens involvement
    Thank God that Shasta was found, I don't care who did find her, as long as she's safe. Wish the same could be said for her brother. Once again, if this does not speak for the need to lock those GPS tracking bracelets on the ankles of these sum..could think of an even better body part to put them on and tightly!
    I thought the poster was talking about citizens
    who were born in another country.  Offshoring is another problem that allows corporations to cut costs to get bigger bonuses created by people in power who us little guys can't fight.  It's a crooked system and the rich get richer and the poor stay poor.  When's the last time you have had a raise?  You know why you will never see a raise.  They can ship the work offshore for cheaper than what we are doing it and as the offshore companies grow older and wiser, we may even have to take a cut in pay to compete.  Thank you government for that.
    What's really sick is when American citizens bad-mouth the USA

    Govt should help the citizens in natural disasters
    I disagree 100%.  If you dont have the govt to turn to, who can you turn to?  What are we paying taxes for..to continue a never ending war around the world?  What is FEMA for..to pay big salaries to Bush's cronies?  My gosh..if families didnt get water and food in time, I say government get your stuff together you need to help the citizens of America. 
    Immigration, overseas labor and we US citizens...sm

    Here's a point to ponder.


    US citizens get upset over illegal aliens stealing jobs and employers state "we hire them because they do the work cheaply".   US citizens are demanding to congress that this stop (which I 100% support!).


    US citizens don't get outraged, though, when jobs are outsourced out of the US for the same reasons and demand  to their lawmakers that it stop.


    Why not?  Regardless of how you look at it.... illegal immigrants and cheap overseas laborers take away American jobs initially done by Americans.  Do we not stand up to overseas labor only because we don't directly pay for healthcare for their people by giving them Medicaid, give them foodstamps, housing, etc?  We do in a way give them all of this by giving away our jobs... therefore allowing them to make money to buy these things but yet the American citizens are left without jobs, healthcare, etc. 


    I would take responsibility for my actions and I would not call citizens of the country
    criminals if there is no evidence to hold them and I personally have no evidence to present to the law to hold them.  I am not one for the spotlight even without grieving for the loss of my child.  I certainly would not get up on world-wide TV and insult the people conducting the search and investigation for my missing child.  And I would not be in the frame of mind to get all made up with glitter eye makeup and false eyelashes to tell other countries not to accept "criminals" who the legal system did not have evidence to hold.  She is a loon. 
    You have your W2 showing very clearly those taxes were paid. MQ is responsible for those taxes
    because you were a statutory employee. That is the responsibility of the employer to pay those just as though you were an employee.
    you don't go shooting off your mouth calling citizens corrupt and criminal in a country you are visi
    and you felt was okay to send you daughter to go to so she could drink at the age of 18. NO ONE WITH COMMON SENSE WOULD OFFEND THOSE SHE WAS EXPECTING HELP FROM. Mrs. Twitty has clean lost her mind if there ever was one there in the first place - considering she sent her daughter to Aruba at the age of 18.
    supposed to be, after people lose their jobs, they are forced to take part-time, lower-paying jobs..
    with little to no benefits. service jobs. where are you going to work in a few years, when Medical Transcription is replaced by technology? McDonald's, Walmart? you really going to like that?
    Several jobs on Monster & CareerBuilder for inhouse office jobs down there through an
    s
    You have really seen an increase?
    I am not on ASR, just curious - maybe I should ask to be.
    ASR increase
    I've been on ASR a year and have seen no increase. I practically have to type the entire report over and start from scratch. IN fact I think they take me longer since you really have to read them very closely because of the dumb words and grammar the computer puts in. I want everyone on ASR who got the "letter" to write back Ms. Barbato and give her your 2 cents on the matter. I'm not taking this lying down, have been kicked around enough by these jerks.
    no increase - again!

    Hi Ladies,


     


    I work as an IC MT and I have to say I am getting pretty discouraged.  I have not had an increase in my cpl in two years.  I did ask recently for an increase but to no avail.  The answer was simply "no, we can't give you an increase at this time."  Wow - where do you go with that?  I feel I work very hard and I am a good transcriptionist.  I love my work but right now I'm down in the dumps about this line of work.  Unfortunately, it is all I know.  Just needed to vent a bit. 



    Thanks for listening.


    Let us know if you got the increase.
    .
    not EVERYONE can increase their pay
    Don't take for granted that you have the opportunity. When my doctors don't dictate, there is nothing I can do... lets be serious.

    I know this is a slow period so I will just wait it out, but don't assume that we are "lucky" to be able to increase our pay, some of you may be, but that is not always true for others.

    Good luck to everyone though especially now during the Holidays
    As an IC when paying taxes, are SS and fed taxes sent SM
    to the same place?
    Help with rate increase, please
    Good morning, everyone. May I have a little advice on a rate increase I am thinking about, please? I have been transcribing for a clinic here in South Florida for 4 years. I started out at 0.06/line and have never raised my rate for this client. However, I would like to raise my line rate to 0.08. Is this unreasonable? I work from home and feel very isolated when it comes to knowing if I am way too low on my rate. Any advice you can give me would be most appreciated. Thanks!
    ASR production increase?!?!
    Anyone want to know how MQ came up with the figures to say we have a PRODUCTION increase because of ASR?  It will surprise you!
    IC Rate Increase

    I would say work with them a little.  I would say try and increase to $2.50 per page in the hopes you get an increase of $2.00.  I had a physician do this where I wanted $2.50 from $1.50 (6 years ago), and he offered me $2.00.  I took it. 


    I am now, same physician, looking for a way to increase as I get paid per page $2.00 (typing from handwritten forms/not dictation), but I think he may go for it.  I, however, am looking at whether I am making more with him per page as opposed to per line and with him it seems I do better per page.  I also make deliveries.  If I were you, I would not go 4 times a week if they are not willing to compensate you a little more for that time.  Production is production, but the time spent making the deliveries needs to be worked in. 


    Is this a client that could possibly go digital?  You may want to stroll that avenue.  Just a thought.  E-mail me if you'd like and have more questions.  I am having the same dilemma.  No one wants to go digital, but they are flexible with pick-up/delivery. 


    I read an article on www.mtworld.com about transcriptionists not making what they should because they do not want to "rock the boat", well my boat is sinking somewhat as everything has gone up but my income!!!  HAHAHAHAHA


    Rate increase...

    I just this done several months ago and what I did was put a little "blurb" at the bottom on the current invoice that said "Effective xx/xx/xx line rate will be $x.xx", with the effective date starting the next month.   I never heard anything back so have been billing at increased rate ever since.  I did make it large enough (same font size as rest of invoice) and put a couple of ******next to it.  When you get a bill from your water, electric, gas or whatever company, they don't even tell you,they just raise it, although sometimes the cable company will tell you in advance that rates have changed.  Anyway, that's what I did, didn't feel I needed to justify it, especially if your rates have been the same for a long time, like mine!!  Good luck.


    Increase speed
    Crank up the speed of the dictator as high as you can while still understanding it. Learn all the keyboard shortcuts and don't touch the mouse. If you hover your mouse over the buttons, you'll see the shortcut.
    How to increase productivity

    The more targeted your glossaries are, the faster you get to your words and phrases. Are you using doctor- or specialty-specific glossaries combined with your own base glossary?


    Are you concentrating on phrases rather than on words? The big keystroke savings kick in when you concentrate on the phrases your doctors say all the time.


    More about productivity at the link below. I hope it will give you some quick tips.


    Marianne


    Where do you work where you can increase
    I wanted to work all hours this week and make a good check for the holidays. I am actually getting half, because there is no work at any time of day. I am working 12-15 hours sitting and waiting for work. If you can share any where that has an abundance of work to get incentives it would be very appreciated. Glad you can make up for your loss, but I am sorry you are going through this.
    I did 3 jobs for a while about 3 years ago, you burn out quick, I was doing 3 MT jobs though...after
    10 months I cut down to 2 as I don't like to have all my eggs in one basket.  But I am considering going down to 1 in September for my sanity, its a good steady job so financally it should not be an issue.  I have 2 right but have not worked the 1 in about 3 weeks due to some problems at their end, supposed to learn a VA account but not sure if I want to pursue it right now or not, they are waiting to hear from me at this point. I still have a lot going on with chemo, etc. so am mulling things over.  But if you have a full-time day job, then I would just go with 1 part-time MT job at night, unless 1 is during the week, and the other weekends only, then of course you will be working 7 days a week, very tiring I know.  I have been working 7 days a week for 3 years now but I do slack off now and then of course to recharge and get sleep etc. But burnout happens fast and I doubt you want to lose your day job so be careful. Good luck.
    Sorry. Got cut off. Nothing I do can increase the font size.
    x
    To the person asking whether to increase her rate sm

    check this website out.  These are the vendors and what they are charging for New Jersey Medical Center.


    http://www.umdnj.edu/purchweb/employees/employ16_transcribing.htm


    To all of those MQ MTs,  check it out, they are charging up to $0.20 per 65 character line. 


    Hope this helps.


    Min wage in WA is 7.63 but they are proposing a $1 increase. nm
    $$
    My plan to increase my income
    Real estate. I just took a new MT job during second shift hours. I'm going to real estate school (doesn't take long). My plan is to do the real estate thing during the day.

    They even have a program that is certified (Georgia) that I can take online. I know it will take time to start getting listings and closings once I get my license, but at least it's a ray of hope.
    my plan to increase income
    Hi - Unfortunately, you will have to have some money in your savings to pay your bills until you become established. I went to real estate school with "the dream of more money", almost easy money. I didn't survive long enough to make any money. It is another one of those "lure you in with lies" profession. Sorry - but no better than MT
    my plan to increase income
    Unless you are making major bucks at being an MT, you would still be better served saving your money. Real estate is a difficult business to "break into" and there are many hidden costs. As another poster stated, "you are on call always" while working in real estate. Good luck to you though!
    I have noticed an significant increase
    in the cost of living. I do not know whether to attribute this to the cost of gas rising or Hurricane Katrina and the gulf ports out of commission but items on the shelf seem about 15% higher in general than just 1-2 years ago save for paper products.

    I do not know how a family can do it and not go into severe debt and I really do believe that is how many are making it, using their charge cards to pay day to day expenses.
    But that's CMT. Nobody has made mention of a pay increase for RMT. nm
    xxxx
    No, not take over. Increase international labor use? Yes.
    owning a US company but using international labor.


    Shortcuts to increase production
    Can anyone tell me what types of shortcuts, software, etc. I can use to increase my production?  I am looking for ways to cut time/increase production.  I have some macros, but what else?  Someone suggested I use the speech recognition software and I could repeat what was being dictated, as it may type faster? Has anyone tried this? I was thinking I would then have to spend my time cleaning up mistakes, but they said it was 99% accurate.  Sounds strange, but maybe it would work.  Any ideas would be appreciated!
    well, the more you do ops, the more you'll increase productivity
    nm
    Does anyone know how to increase the pedal backspace on a DVI? sm
    I am having a problem that when I lift my foot off the pedal, it pauses but does not back up at all.  It is hard to work like that and I cannot figure for the life of me what to do to fix it!
    It wouldn't increase the speed of someone who
    is using a steno machine for sure. However, I am at least 30% faster on ASR. And I'm not a slow typist - I can do 90 to 100 words per minute. I am a fast reader, though, and I think that helps with ASR.

    I'm curious though...I don't understand how you use a steno machine to type onto a computer screen. I thought it was a machine that just typed codes out on paper that court reporters later transcribed. I'm fascinated by this...that is a nice increase in production.

    Do you think it's worth it for someone with no steno experience to learn how to use a steno machine?

    When you use the steno machine, do you hook it up as if it were your keyboard? Does it type out full words? Any advice/info you could give would be very appreciated. :)