Nurse Practitioners VS Doctors

A just read an article this morning at Kare 11's website:
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=848124

In summary the health care industry is looking at giving Nurse Pratitioners more freedom in their current role. This is to include prescribing narcotics and working without having to report back to a doctor. I understand that they cost less and IMHO there is a reason for that! I haven't ever had a good experience with a nurse practitioner. IMHO they are just a bump up from a nurse. I PREFER to be seen and talk to a doctor, not a nurse. Let me give you an example. Here in MN we have the "Minute Clinic". These are staffed by nurse practitioners. They only have certain things they can diagnose and do. Children must be over 18 months (I believe). Anyway we took our daughter there a couple years ago (She was 4 or 5) and I kid you not it was like a scene out of house. The lady was sarcastic and rude and even walked with a cane. We brought her in because she was running a high fever (which Tylenol would break but only for an hour or so). She was miserable and coughing. The nurse practitioner began to question us on how old she was (well above their age limit). I told her how old she was and her response was "are you sure"? I said "Yes of course!". She started to look in her ears and the first one she checked she said "there is too much wax in here, so I can't see". The other one was fine. I thought "Well grab a Q-tip you idiot!" She checked her over and told me she was fine and she couldn't do anything. The next morning and several long hours later (due to a long night with lack of sleep), we took her into the Urgent Care at Quello. Viola! She had an ear infection in the "Ear that was fine", and strep throat. The nurse practitioner checked her throat as well and said it was "just a little red, but it was fine". Seriously!?! You are telling me that within 12 hours a perfectly normal ear turned into an ear infection and a little red throat turned into Strep! Whatever! This is my typical issue with nurse practitioners. They do NOT diagnose patients correctly.

I had to laugh when I read this in that article: "They say they're highly trained and as skilled as doctors at diagnosing illness during office visits. They know when to refer the sickest patients to doctor specialists."
Ok calling B***SH** on that one! I am always looking for ways to save money...like buying store brand over brand name, but skimping on the health of my family buy paying less for a nurse practitioner over a doctor is just not something I am prepared to skimp/save on. I am skimping on the well being of my family!