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Have you looked at what health insurance actually pays for the services you get? The medical practices are getting squeezed big time. By the time a doctor pays the overhead for his office, student loans and malpractice insurance, it cannot be very easy to make a decent living after having spent so much on their education.
If a doctor is an employee of a major hospital, he has a chance at making a comfortable living, but not all can do this.
Our former family doctor had his own practice, in his own building. Partners came and went and he spent most of his time worrying about making ends meet, when all he really wanted was to take care of his patients. Ultimately, he sold his building and became an employee of a major hospital system.
The general practitioner, ER doctor, and on staff hospital internist don't get paid nearly as much as one would think, especially when you consider the very long hours hospital staff doctors put in. At our hospital, the ER doctors have a sleep room because they need to catch as much sleep as possible when there's a break between patients. Some specialist surgeons charge far too much. Something to consider is the patients they treat who won't pay their bills, the doctors do volunteer work with charity clinics and VA facilities, malpractice insurance cost, having to hire more staff to deal with insurance companies & laws, and paying back student loans. Good doctors will also continue their studies to stay abreast on the latest medical technology. Some of what they may have learned may later be proven to be wrong or a better way discovered.
My cousin is an ER doc and he is constantly posting pics of going here and going there. Racing his BMW, off to the gun range. Now my point is not that many do not put in long hours, just that it's a generalization.
The question is difficult and both sides are correct. Health care should not be left up to the markets BUT anything the government subsidizes only continues to get more expensive. It's too bad we do not have politicians willing to actually discuss this.
Other countries have a system figured out and still have doctors, but we're too "exceptional" for that to work here.
true, now check the malpractice insurance rates the doctors in other countries have to pay compared to what american doctors have to pay. here in the US doctors can pay as much as $200,000 per year in malpractice insurance premiums, even though they have great records.
My cousin is an ER doc and he is constantly posting pics of going here and going there. Racing his BMW, off to the gun range. Now my point is not that many do not put in long hours, just that it's a generalization.
The question is difficult and both sides are correct. Health care should not be left up to the markets BUT anything the government subsidizes only continues to get more expensive. It's too bad we do not have politicians willing to actually discuss this.
ER docs have a cap on how many hours they can work in a week since they typically work 12 hour shifts at a time. ER docs do get a lot of days off, but that's only because the hours they do work tend to be quite brutal and their burnout rates are extremely high.
My uncle is an ER doctor, I think (I am not 100% sure), he works probably around 45 hours a work week, but the schedule is quite flexible. He has no research or teaching responsibilities, he does community ER, so he works longer hours.
One of my aunt is a plastic surgeon. She makes way MORE money than my ER doctor uncle.
I don't think doctors are paid too much simply because important context should be considered when analyzing doctors’ wages.
Used to do some consulting work for private physicians, try and teach them how to squeeze more $ out of their practices by targeting lost revenue opportunities, avoiding billing mistakes, etc. Demand exceeded supply and I stopped doing this to avoid burnout and lost money I could get from much higher paying hospital networks.
You'd be amazed how many independent doctors keep their practices afloat by taking out multiple mortgages on their home. Their books are depressing honestly.
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