There is a dearth of PCPs on the horizon. Out of the last medical school class at OHSU, there was only one doctor who is going into primary care.
Two reasons, both of which I already stated. One, he phrased it as "my reward", not "my gross income". Secondly, "I assume he quoted the figure that made his argument look better." barfo
If he'd provided a complete set of data on his earnings, I'd be able to use the facts. However, he chose to provide only a small amount of data, and so one must make assumptions in order to analyze it. Not sure why you'd object to that. barfo
You claim the guy is complaining about making $270k in Redding. I'd like to know how you calculated your criticism of him. I doubt he's making $270k/year off of his practice. Do you know any PCPs?
I spoke with a couple today who work for our parent company. Both left their practices as due to rising costs of malpractice insurance, employees... and sinking costs of reimbursements they had to for financial reasons.
I don't think PCPs are beyond criticism by any means, but the criticism put forth by barfo was so lacking in both substance and reality that I couldn't let it pass unchallenged.
I know a few PCPs who actually quit to become medical supply and pharma reps because they could make more money.
It used to be our best and brightest chose medicine as a vocation. Now, those docs are lucky if they make $150K. Why not go into a field where you need less schooling and can make considerably more? People lament that the number of physicians isn't increasing with the population growth. The answer is simple: pay more, and you'll get more doctors.
Put Americans on a diet of fish, soy and rice and we'd be healthy too. Also, we'd have to have the Japanese mindset of "the nail that sticks up is the first to get hammered". Unfortunately for the author (and for you), we're a land of fatty foods and where the individual is celebrated. Japan is a terrible example of what we should do.
And isn't being healthy kind of a useful thing? Why is that unfortunate for the author or me? There are some good points and some bad points about Japanese health care, but I didn't post it saying "this is what the US should do", nor did the author of the article, as far as I can remember. It is nevertheless useful to look to see what works and doesn't work in other countries. There's no requirement that says if we look at another country's health plan we have to implement it. barfo
See post #6. That's fine, doubt away. I have no idea what he makes, I was just trying to figure it out from the data he provided. If you have better data, I'd be happy to look at it. barfo
I also note that medical schools will (and have been) lowering standards tremendously to get students to turn out as PCP's. It will simply become another high cost/low reward job like so many PHD's who are teaching community college jobs at $60,000 per year after spending a few hundred thousand for their degrees. The best & brightest will do other things.
Why does it cost so much to become a medical doctor? There are so many medical schools, why is the free market failing? The sad thing is that many of the best and brightest doctors that practice in the states come from overseas where the majority get their medical schooling for FREE! HOLY SHIT OUR BEST DOCTORS ARE SOCIALISTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In other words, you made up a criticism based on "data" given, yet you managed to not include any operating costs.
I already gave my reasons for excluding operating costs. Twice, in fact. No point in repeating it a third time when you haven't been paying attention. barfo
For openers, medical schools have to keep abreast on the latest technology, staff with competent teaching physicians... remember, they're teaching people on how to diagnose and treat the human body- and that just ain't cheap to do. That's a really good point about doctors trained in other countries.
It's very useful. Are you going to require we eat like the Japanese? I believe in freedom. Because it renders the comparison moot. Well, in the Venn Diagram of life, there isn't much overlay.
