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Doctors in the US earn twice as much as the OECD average. Dean Baker talks a lot about how during the era of 'globalization' manufacturing workers were pitted a

Doctors in the US earn twice as much as the OECD average. Dean Baker talks a lot about how during the era of 'globalization' manufacturing workers were pitted against low-wage third world workers while doctors were shielded from similar competition by professional organizations and barriers to entry by immigration law. Basically, doctors in the US have lots of ways to control the supply of doctors, so their wages are unsurprisingly elevated above the international norm.

busterarm 11y ago
And, given the treatment of medical students who graduate outside the continental US, this is still in effect today. Even Americans have a hard road ahead when their only med school options lead them to the Caribbean. Even if they went to Ross.
jessriedel 11y ago
I don't have much insight with regard to protectionism, but it's worth pointing out that physician income is low (~8%) as a fraction of the (high) US healthcare spending, compared to other Western countries. http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/physician-compensation-among-lowest-western-nations http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/physician-compensa... Given the large fraction of physician income that goes toward medical malpractice in the US, as well as the higher overall wages in the US, the differential that protectionism needs to explain is nothing like the factor of 2 you suggest.
zanny 11y ago
My uncle is an MD in Georgia and had to close his private practice four years ago that he had for twenty because malpractice insurance, the racketing of drug companies, and medicare / medicaid not paying out in timely or reasonable manners left him with negative balance books many months, and the bureaucracy meant he needed two employees just to cover the mountains of paperwork. He estimated that for a simple referral or prescription he needed to produce at least 15 different forms or records and provide them to the insurer / medicare / pharmacy / etc, duplicate them in triplicate, back them up in filing cabinets that took up a quarter of his office, etc. Yes, his business was making probably 600k in revenue a year. And sometimes upwards of 550k of that would end up going to expenses - salaries, rent, certifications, licenses, bureaucratic bullshit, and a half dozen different kinds of insurance. He is now working for a hospital as part of basically a medical monopoly ring in the state being paid much less than the OECD average but that isn't pleasant to hear that the inflated salaries vary greatly depending on location. Hes 60 now. He paid off his student loan debt only five years ago, after working in a hospital for 5 and then his private practice for 20 years after graduating his MD. It is insane, and hilarious, how people are misdirecting the obvious highway robbery of insurance companies, hospital executives, and investors in the industry on the backs of the doctors who are dedicating their lives to medicine.

busterarm 11y ago

And, given the treatment of medical students who graduate outside the continental US, this is still in effect today. Even Americans have a hard road ahead when their only med school options lead them to the Caribbean. Even if they went to Ross.

jessriedel 11y ago

I don't have much insight with regard to protectionism, but it's worth pointing out that physician income is low (~8%) as a fraction of the (high) US healthcare spending, compared to other Western countries. http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/physician-compensation-among-lowest-western-nations http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/physician-compensa... Given the large fraction of physician income that goes toward medical malpractice in the US, as well as the higher overall wages in the US, the differential that protectionism needs to explain is nothing like the factor of 2 you suggest.

zanny 11y ago

My uncle is an MD in Georgia and had to close his private practice four years ago that he had for twenty because malpractice insurance, the racketing of drug companies, and medicare / medicaid not paying out in timely or reasonable manners left him with negative balance books many months, and the bureaucracy meant he needed two employees just to cover the mountains of paperwork. He estimated that for a simple referral or prescription he needed to produce at least 15 different forms or records and provide them to the insurer / medicare / pharmacy / etc, duplicate them in triplicate, back them up in filing cabinets that took up a quarter of his office, etc. Yes, his business was making probably 600k in revenue a year. And sometimes upwards of 550k of that would end up going to expenses - salaries, rent, certifications, licenses, bureaucratic bullshit, and a half dozen different kinds of insurance. He is now working for a hospital as part of basically a medical monopoly ring in the state being paid much less than the OECD average but that isn't pleasant to hear that the inflated salaries vary greatly depending on location. Hes 60 now. He paid off his student loan debt only five years ago, after working in a hospital for 5 and then his private practice for 20 years after graduating his MD. It is insane, and hilarious, how people are misdirecting the obvious highway robbery of insurance companies, hospital executives, and investors in the industry on the backs of the doctors who are dedicating their lives to medicine.