3 ms·

You're right that the current healthcare industry is far from a free market, but javert too is right that the golden age of American healthcare was when it was

by wtbob 12y ago

You're right that the current healthcare industry is far from a free market, but javert too is right that the golden age of American healthcare was when it was far closer to a free market. Interestingly, the golden age for physicians' personal wealth was during the socialisation phase, as they were able to pocket fees increasingly paid by insurers, leading to a quintupling in income. They went from lower-middle class at $50,000/year in 2010 terms to $250,000 in 2010 terms. Doors anyone seriously suspect that we'll ever get back to $50,000/yr physicians? This illustrates why industries are often keen to socialise: they can guarantee outsize personal success. What our system absolutely rewrites is radical dissolution.

vacri 12y ago
When were doctors ever 'lower-middle class' in any western society?
- jasonisalive 12y ago
  Any time right up until the 1950s I would say. I don't know what you'd call the status of mid-19th century doctors in Britain, for example, but they definitely weren't upper class.
  - vacri 12y ago
    'lower-middle class' is the lower part of the middle class. It's not "lower or middle class". Lower-middle, middle-middle, upper-middle. If it was 'lower or middle', that'd make even less sense - university-educated professionals being part of the working class demographic, at a time when university was an oddity rather than the norm?
- MaysonL 12y ago
  When I was a kid in the '50s, our family doctor lived and had his office in a house little larger than ours, in much the same neighborhood as ours: definitely middle class.
  - vacri 12y ago
    I didn't say not middle class, I said not lower-middle class. Doctors as a demographic have never been lower-middle class.
- wtbob 12y ago
  From the article physicians averaged $50,000/year in 2010 dollars back in the 30s or 40s. $50,000/year in 2010 was lower middle class. It's enough to live on, but certainly not enough to be comfortable, especially with a family, not is it enough to save much.

by wtbob 12y ago

vacri 12y ago

When were doctors ever 'lower-middle class' in any western society?

jasonisalive 12y ago
Any time right up until the 1950s I would say. I don't know what you'd call the status of mid-19th century doctors in Britain, for example, but they definitely weren't upper class.
- vacri 12y ago
  'lower-middle class' is the lower part of the middle class. It's not "lower or middle class". Lower-middle, middle-middle, upper-middle. If it was 'lower or middle', that'd make even less sense - university-educated professionals being part of the working class demographic, at a time when university was an oddity rather than the norm?
MaysonL 12y ago
When I was a kid in the '50s, our family doctor lived and had his office in a house little larger than ours, in much the same neighborhood as ours: definitely middle class.
- vacri 12y ago
  I didn't say not middle class, I said not lower-middle class. Doctors as a demographic have never been lower-middle class.
wtbob 12y ago
From the article physicians averaged $50,000/year in 2010 dollars back in the 30s or 40s. $50,000/year in 2010 was lower middle class. It's enough to live on, but certainly not enough to be comfortable, especially with a family, not is it enough to save much.