Posted on 04/24/2018 5:14:25 AM PDT by reaganaut1
The U.S. spends about 18% of its gross domestic product on health care, far more than most countries. One contributing factor that often goes overlooked: the high cost, in time and money, of becoming a physician. In a recent paper for the Mercatus Center, Jeffrey Flier and Jared Rhoads argue that the amount of time it takes to become a doctor—almost always at least a decade—constrains the supply, driving up prices. Physician incomes in the U.S. well exceed those in Europe; American generalists earn twice as much as Dutch ones.
Much of this education, especially courses required for a bachelor’s degree, has little to do with medicine. In the U.S., aspiring physicians must spend four years in college before med school (another four years) and then residencies. Europeans can begin studying medicine immediately after high school—usually with a five- or six-year course.
While the share of Americans with postsecondary education exceeds the level in most European countries, the U.S. has a much smaller proportion of medical doctors graduating each year: 7.5 per 100,000 residents, compared with 11.3 in Germany, 12.8 in Britain, 9 in France, and 14.6 in the Netherlands. Only Canada, which has undergraduate requirements and high physician costs comparable to America’s, comes close, with 7.8 per 100,000. The U.S. faces a projected shortfall of between 42,600 and 121,300 physicians by 2030, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
The status quo also does a disservice to young doctors, most of whom emerge from med school in debt (a median of $195,000 in 2017) and don’t begin to practice until they’re in their 30s. Why prolong the process, especially when 53% of newly enrolled med students say that before college they already had “definitely decided” to study medicine?
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I asked the Engineering dean at USF why I had to take courses with “no technical value” (their words). Why couldn’t I substitute biology labs? He sighed and said, “because the ‘other side of campus’ (the arts) have to get a piece of your money. Those are the rules. I don’t make the rules.”
Pricing (and location of practice) is not set by government.
Malpractice lawsuits.
Cost shifting to cover lost $$$ providing emergency care to patients who do no pay (think $5 aspirin billing for hospital stays).
More visa for doctors can slash the labor pricing. Look what its done to engineering salaries for the past 20 years.
I see doctors dropping out of practice due to the high cost of liability insurance, regulations, operating costs and government controls (Obamacare, etc). My neuro went into corporate work (insurance consulting), my primary care Dr retired, another neuro was considering retiring early, my second primary care Dr went into research. Gross income vs net income for a doctor is a huge differential except in certain areas such as plastic surgery, etc.
In addition to the separation of cost and payer, other large driving forces in cost are a quest for immortality, and the widespread availability of wealth to pursue it.
Start exterminating torte lawyers.
Also cost shifting to cover countries enforcing price controls. Ex: Canada.
Whoops, that was for pharma.
As for docs, it’s Fedzilla.
Again.
A shortage of doctors is partially government-driven. As one of the few surviving parts of Hillary-care, the government was paying medical schools not to accept more students, both generally and in specific fields of study.
Obviously, they botched even the anticipated distribution of need.
Add to this that pharma companies carry on all their R&D here, but can’t recover the costs in countries that require them to sell medicine cheap. We end up paying the cost for this.
Also, don’t think for a minute that other countries are on the cutting edge of medical technology like we are. They’re not. But, it costs money to stay on top. And, believe me, not all medical care is equal.
Our left-wing universities and now left-wing medical schools want students to take off 2-5 years to go do social justice work before they admit non-minority students to state medical schools. This means students don’t start medical school until they are 26 or 27 years old, delaying their residencies until their early 30’s. 40 years ago you went straight to med school or law school after graduating. Then you were practicing medicine in your early 30’s instead of mid-30’s with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Or there could be (and used to be) integrated programs where the student completed college and med school in 6 years and then went on to residency.
The reasons for costs of medicine and procedures are many, and all come down to some Democrat ideas of how to fix things. There is not enough free market in our health system.
The weight average cost for health care can be reduced by eliminating the participants in the cohort that is greater than 65 years.
Factors to consider-
<>population replacement
<>non-productive segments
Imagine a car dealership where the price of a sedan is $150,000, or $7500 if you have your car insurance company negotiate for you.
“because the ‘other side of campus’ (the arts) have to get a piece of your money.’
a literature major could make the exact same argument regarding ‘the other side of the campus’ doing a money grab...
Nooooo
Then you end up with I’ll trained Pakis who provide no care whatsoever
The numbers are misleading. If you count in all the tax dollars paid for this so called care in foreign countries the US looks pretty good
Yeah, we all want some Muslim treating us.
I would put an American trained physician up against a European one any day. It is difficult to tell straight out of high school who will have the stamina, tenacity and aptitude to undertake medical school. There are a few 6 year programs here but they have never caught on. Is mr Hogg and his compatriots ready to study medicine? We need to wean them off tide pods first
Exactly. Everything looks cheaper on the spot when you are forced to prepay via taxes.
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