First of all, fewer and fewer patients will have private insurance (not medicare and medicaid) Second, although money is a motivator, the rules and regulations and more layers of administration is the main reason most of us want out. Dealing with medicare and medicaid is onerous enough now. I will not practice in a system where everything is regulated even more than it is now, and I have to say “mother may I” every time I want to order something.
As for the money, yes doctors are well paid as a profession and no one is crying for me. However, unless you are in one of the high paying specialties ( I am not ), you would be surprised what I actually make. Far less that lawyers, etc. I even make less per hour that the guy I paid to sand and refinish my deck last spring. 150,000/yr is considered good for primary care, and as a hospitalist I don’t make much more than that. Now add in that I frequently work 14+ hour shifts, nights, holidays, weekends, etc and see how many people want to do my job for what I make. The trend in recent years is to work longer hours and make less. I love medicine, but it is getting to the point that the aggravation is not worth the rewards, and most docs being fairly intelligent people we can retrain for something else, get paid better, and see our families once in a while.
Now do you see the problem?