5 ms·

I don't think that's accurate. From my research, the bottleneck is residencies, whose funding is determined by Congress [1]. The AMA has supported laws to incre

• bradleyjg 3y ago
  > whose funding is determined by Congress There’s no law forbidding you, a state government, a local government, an insurance company, the AARP, or anyone else from funding a residency.
  • verteu 3y ago
    Good point - I don't see why they're subsidized by the federal gvt at all, rather than the resident, the hospital, the AMA, etc.
    • whatshisface 3y ago
      Med students don't have a lot of money, and hospitals are actually there (from their perspective, at least) to make money. The AMA doesn't have a lot of extra money either.
      • bradleyjg 3y ago
        They don’t have a lot of money yet. They have a very high amount of lifetime earning potential compared to their peers in other countries (yes, even after debt service and malpractice insurance.)
        • esoleyman 3y ago
          Are you seriously asking residents to subsidize their own training working 60-80 hours a week [1] and being paid maybe $20-25/hr for 3-7 years while the hospitals make money from their services? If that were the case, then the only ones who would put up with such a system would be those who have rich families to back them up. I came from a blue collar background and my family could not help subsidize my training and I could not afford to live, make rent, or afford food if I had to pay for my training as well. There are so many other things that you are completely glossing over including annual income between generalists vs specialists, pediatricians vs non-pediatricians, reimbursement inequality from Medicare (has not kept up with inflation and is ~40% below inflation), Medicaid pays at best 10-15% on the dollar, and so on. American physicians also work almost teice as many hours as their European counterparts which would increase their incomes. [1] it’s considerably more because if you report it then the program can be in danger and lose its credentialing
          • tastyfreeze 3y ago
            > subsidize their own training working 60-80 hours a week [1] and being paid maybe $20-25/hr for 3-7 years while the hospitals make money from their services That sounds like an apprenticeship. Many other industries do exactly that. Why should doctors be different?
            • LunaSea 3y ago
              Because you don't work 60 to 80 hours a week during an apprenticeship.
              • 3y ago