Inelastic supply is a well-known phenomenon. The usual reasons are "it's hard to add supply" or "suppliers are working at full capacity" The medical field has

Inelastic supply is a well-known phenomenon. The usual reasons are "it's hard to add supply" or "suppliers are working at full capacity" The medical field has both. Suppliers are working at capacity - there's a limited amount of residency spots[1] Increasing supply is also incredibly hard, because it has a decade+ of lead time. Neither one of those "our modern economy" can fix. The latter requires loosening training requirements. That's why we have Nurse Practitioners, which folks are loudly complaining about a few threads above. The number of residents is capped because new residents cost money. Hospitals used to make up for that by relying on Medicare, but that funding hasn't been increased. And so the economy works exactly as designed, the expensive good of "residency slots" is only offered to a limited amount, where it makes financial sense. It doesn't matter that additional doctors would make sense, the hospitals can't make money of more residency spots. Existing doctors don't complain, because it drives their salaries up. All of this very much makes the eloquent point that our modern economy is not the right tool for education or medical services. It can't work, given the forces around it. And so it goes. [1] https://www.medicaleconomics.com/view/match-day-2023-a-reminder-of-the-real-cause-of-the-physician-shortage-not-enough-residency-positions https://www.medicaleconomics.com/view/match-day-2023-a-remin...