As we know the United States has the highest healthcare spending amongst countries in
the developed world. To add this time, the salary of American physicians is much higher
than that of their counterparts in other countries, so it raises the question of whether
physician’s salaries are justified given current healthcare expenditures. Personally, I
believe that physicians salaries are justified based on the dedication to their education and
long-term investments associated with their medical training. According to a 2018 study,
the average generalist salary in the United States is $218,713 compared to $133,723 for
their colleagues in OCED nations (Pope, 2020). Naturally, when physicians pursue careers
in medical specialties, their salaries increase accordingly as a result of increased
specialized training.
4
The cost of medical training in the United States is astronomic. The average medical
student in the United States graduates with approximately $155,000 in debt, which can be
even higher if they incurred debt from their undergraduate studies4(Norbeck, 2013). As a
result of this, many American students opt to attend a medical school in the Caribbean
where the average annual tuition is roughly $9,000 (Pope, 2020). Conversely, in Great
Britain, students who wish to become doctors are able to begin medical school directly
after completing high school, which helps to cut down associated costs (Norbeck, 2013).
Even after receiving a medical degree, graduates must match into a medical residency
program, which can range from 3-7 years. On average, residents receive around $50,000
during their residency programs, which is typically disproportionate to the number of
hours they work per week (Norbeck, 2013). 4
4
The number of available medical residency programs has created a bottleneck in the
training of new physicians and is assisting in perpetuating the physician shortage in the
United States.44According to the Association of American Medical Colleges medical
school admission is continuing to grow (Boyle, 2020). During the 2019-2020 school year
there were roughly 22,000 new medical students, which was a 33% increase from 2002
(Boyle, 2020). That being said, in 2020 there were only 37,256 residency positions
available for an applicant pool of 40,084 medical school graduates, leaving thousands of
qualified graduates without a job despite mountains of debt from 4 years of medical school
(Boyle, 2020). As a result, the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that
there could be a shortage upwards of 139,000 physicians by 2033, largely in part because
of the cap on federal subsidies for graduate medical education that Medicare provides
(Boyle, 2020). Medical students are able to rank their preferences for specific residency
programs/specialties, understandably annual salary likely plays a role in these rankings.
After dedicating a minimum of 11 years to their education/medical training and hundreds
of thousands of dollars, I believe that physicians deserve the salaries that they receive;
their compassion, dedication, care they provide and responsibility they hold cannot be
discounted.
4
References
Boyle, P. (2020, September 3).4Medical School enrollments grow, but residency slots
haven't kept pace. AAMC. Retrieved
from4https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/medical-school-enrollments-grow-
residency-slots-haven-t-kept-pace
Norbeck T. B. (2013). Drivers of health care costs. A physicians foundation white paper--
first of a three-part series.4Missouri medicine,4110(1), 30–35.
