I am considering a career change. My family has often noted my uncanny ability to note change and home right in on an issue that everyone else misses.
I vowed after Engineering School, I would never again return to academia... but I wonder if I would make for a good G.P. country doctor like I had when I was young.
I like to fix problems... and wonder what the market will be for competitive and cost effective ala carte type care will be when the system collapses.
Probably not a very bright idea right now as the nation is bamboozled into another ponzi scheme of health insurance... when it’s the cost of care at the core... but I am considering my escape to a very rural isolated community... and am wondering if in my eventual retirement being a doctor would fulfill my need to be needed.
If you’re up for it, the minimum time required to be a primary care doc currently is 7 years (4 for medical school, 3 for residency). Medical school could easily cost you $250,000 for the four years (a lot more if you pay it off over time via a student loan), and you won’t be able to work during that time, so there will be no income.
Primary care docs are also underpaid, in large measure because the system doesn’t appreciate ‘thinking’. You can easily make more for ‘freezing’ a mole with liquid nitrogen in the office than you can for an office visit that takes a lot more time.
I’m not dissuading you, and I admire your motivation, but the issues are real.