7 ms·
Living in what is essentially a single-payer health care system (Norway), I assure you we don't see many MDs sleeping in cardboard boxes under freeway overpasse
by lb1lf 9y ago
Living in what is essentially a single-payer health care system (Norway), I assure you we don't see many MDs sleeping in cardboard boxes under freeway overpasses.
On a more serious note - education and skills tend to pay off.
Around here, doctors with their own practice are reimbursed by the state via several mechanisms, the two most significant ones are probably a fixed sum for each patient they are responsible for (they get this regardless of whether the patient sees them or not) and a fixed sum for each treatment, prescription filled &c.
Anecdotally, an MD with his own practice earns approx. $100k-$150k annually before taxes; this is 2-2,5 times the national average. (Very roughly speaking, but in the right ballpark)
- peterhadlaw 9y agoI don't think I ever made a claim that "doctors would be sleeping in boxes".
- lb1lf 9y agoOh, you didn't - and I hope my flippant comment didn't mislead anyone into thinking you did. There's already so many factors distorting the health care market that it is imho hardly an argument against single payer that doctors would have to negotiate compensation against a powerful customer. (It would, after all, at the same time remove a number of other distortions from the mix - while unlikely to leave doctors in the gutter in the process.) External circumstances change in a lot of professions all the time; for instance, I do not expect the government to help me out (working in the petroleum industry) now that oil prices are more than halved from their peak - that's life. Better adjust to it.
- peterhadlaw 9y agoI said that the government would be dictating what a doctor's time and efforts would be worth instead of letting it figure itself out without any artificial restrictions
- DrScump 9y agoHow is medical school funded? It's not uncommon for medical school grads in the USA to graduate with six-figure student loan debt.
- lb1lf 9y agoUniversity tuition is free (well, tax-funded, to be precise) - so students typically take out a student loan of approx. $1k/month to cover living expenses. A lot (most?) work part-time on the side to make ends meet. Part of this loan (methinks ~30%) is converted into a scholarship once you pass your exams, thus leaving you (very roughly) $50,000 in debt after six years in med school.)