If doctors were to make very little money (say 50 grand a year)...

BU Medical Sciences
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No. No one would do it. Unless the gov't completely revamped the cost/means of paying for med school.

/end thread.
 
Absolutely. I'm not intent on attending medical school only for the money. Sure, it's a nice bonus, but it's my fascination of the human body and love for medicine that's made me choose to go.
 
dediobst said:
Absolutely. I'm not intent on attending medical school only for the money. Sure, it's a nice bonus, but it's my fascination of the human body and love for medicine that's made me choose to go.
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Yeah. Good luck paying 2100/month loan payment while making 50k/year.

No one does it ONLY for money. But you'd have to be independently wealthy or have no concept of budget/finances to go into medicine if the end result was 50k/year.
 
dediobst said:
Absolutely. I'm not intent on attending medical school only for the money. Sure, it's a nice bonus, but it's my fascination of the human body and love for medicine that's made me choose to go.
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...you do realize 50k is a relatively small amount of money, right? I'm assuming this answer comes from your lack of real-world knowledge.
 
excalibur86 said:
Even if med school were free I still wouldn't
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Also true. 4 years of college + 4 years of med school +3-7 years of residency = 30-35 year old that makes 50k per year? Absurd.
 
NickNaylor said:
...you do realize 50k is a relatively small amount of money, right? I'm assuming this answer comes from your lack of real-world knowledge.
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I agree absolutely. I was merely assuming that you would only begin at $50,000 and go from there. There's no way to pay back those loans and support a family with such little salary. It would have to be higher.

I'm glad you can conclude that I have no real-world knowledge merely from one post.
 
dediobst said:
Absolutely. I'm not intent on attending medical school only for the money. Sure, it's a nice bonus, but it's my fascination of the human body and love for medicine that's made me choose to go.
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How stupid are you.... You would be bankrupt in less then a year.

No one would go into medicine.
 
with the way government regulations are being placed on the profession and the health care market, i wouldn't doubt that doctors will make 50k a year in a decade or so. If so, I would absolutely leave the country and go to another developed country with a free market in health care.
 
I'd become a physician even if they paid me in pink starbursts, but not red or yellow (those suck).
 
50k is average US income, maybe a little above. I'd do it if I got paid a stipend during my education like PhDs do. Otherwise, not worth it, even if the education were free. Too effing long. Too much opportunity cost.
 
I'll let Consuela say it for me.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FshkO8HqQ10[/YOUTUBE]
 
TribalSeeds said:
with the way government regulations are being placed on the profession and the health care market, i wouldn't doubt that doctors will make 50k a year in a decade or so. If so, I would absolutely leave the country and go to another developed country with a free market in health care.
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You've found Shangri-La?
 
TribalSeeds said:
with the way government regulations are being placed on the profession and the health care market, i wouldn't doubt that doctors will make 50k a year in a decade or so. If so, I would absolutely leave the country and go to another developed country with a free market in health care.
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People will no longer become physicians if that were to actually happen. Or very, very few would.
 
TribalSeeds said:
with the way government regulations are being placed on the profession and the health care market, i wouldn't doubt that doctors will make 50k a year in a decade or so. If so, I would absolutely leave the country and go to another developed country with a free market in health care.
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Move to Australia, duh.

116-sydney-australia.jpg
 
gettheleadout said:
I doubt that.
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Look up statistics for how much the average doctors office pays for administrative costs involving insurance/medicaid/medicare. Last time I looked it was about +14%. The vast majority of doctors are not able to handle this on their on their own, thus being forced to hire many employees. Take a look at the new health care law bureaucracy and tell me that it will make it easier for doctors to submit paper work, higher less employees, or lower costs.
 
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Wow! I've never heard this question on SDN before!!

/sarcasm
 
alwaysaangel said:
Yeah. Good luck paying 2100/month loan payment while making 50k/year.

No one does it ONLY for money. But you'd have to be independently wealthy or have no concept of budget/finances to go into medicine if the end result was 50k/year.
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👍
 
TribalSeeds said:
Look up statistics for how much the average doctors office pays for administrative costs involving insurance/medicaid/medicare. Last time I looked it was about +14%. The vast majority of doctors are not able to handle this on their on their own, thus being forced to hire many employees. Take a look at the new health care law bureaucracy and tell me that it will make it easier for doctors to submit paper work, higher less employees, or lower costs.
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Because this = $50k a year.

🙄

Also, academic medicine ftw.
 
ok, but what if this question popped up during an interview? What if the interviewer asked you if the pay of doctors was significantly reduced, would you still be interested in medicine? I feel like if you say yes, he or she would think that you are lying, and if you say no then he or she would think that you are not in it for the right reasons...
 
gettheleadout said:
Because this = $50k a year.

🙄

Also, academic medicine ftw.
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Well no, you're taking what I said literally. Obviously, doctors are going to make exactly 50k a year. You are just nitpicking now. What I am saying is that extra unnecessary administrative costs chop away at a doctors revenue and therefore salary and the ability to hire more health-related employees or expand one's practice.
 
studentdoctor08 said:
ok, but what if this question popped up during an interview? What if the interviewer asked you if the pay of doctors was significantly reduced, would you still be interested in medicine? I feel like if you say yes, he or she would think that you are lying, and if you say no then he or she would think that you are not in it for the right reasons...
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There is definitely a way around it. You could say you might not be able to afford medical school or pay your loans. You could say that medicine is important to you so you might look at other related fields like research or teaching at the university you are applying to!
 
studentdoctor08 said:
ok, but what if this question popped up during an interview? What if the interviewer asked you if the pay of doctors was significantly reduced, would you still be interested in medicine? I feel like if you say yes, he or she would think that you are lying, and if you say no then he or she would think that you are not in it for the right reasons...
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Just say, "I'm not focused on money. I'm just going to do what I find interesting and I believe the money will work itself out."

THEN... when you are looking for jobs, hell yeah you look at what you get paid. Who doesn't?

You must learn how to address questions without really answering them. It is an important life skill.
 
Absolutely not. I really care about money and would not want a career where I made less than $150,000, although $120,000 would be acceptable, if the career was fun.
 
studentdoctor08 said:
ok, but what if this question popped up during an interview? What if the interviewer asked you if the pay of doctors was significantly reduced, would you still be interested in medicine? I feel like if you say yes, he or she would think that you are lying, and if you say no then he or she would think that you are not in it for the right reasons...
Click to expand...


Not necessarily. Doctors know that medical school is expensive. Moreover, they know that you need to pay for other things as well. No one would expect you to pay off your med school loans, car payments, house payments, gas/water/electricity bills, food, etc... on 50k/year. Telling them that you won't pursue medicine for that much money doesn't show that you are in it for the wrong reasons, it shows that you have common sense.
 
TribalSeeds said:
Well no, you're taking what I said literally. Obviously, doctors are going to make exactly 50k a year. You are just nitpicking now. What I am saying is that extra unnecessary administrative costs chop away at a doctors revenue and therefore salary and the ability to hire more health-related employees or expand one's practice.
Click to expand...
Hmm...So you just meant in general they'll make less money, I don't know where I got the idea you meant their income would drop to a specific level...
TribalSeeds said:
with the way government regulations are being placed on the profession and the health care market, i wouldn't doubt that doctors will make 50k a year in a decade or so. If so, I would absolutely leave the country and go to another developed country with a free market in health care.
Click to expand...
😕
 
gettheleadout said:
Hmm...So you just meant in general they'll make less money, I don't know where I got the idea you meant their income would drop to a specific level...

😕
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you can't be serious.....I guess not everybody understands a statement of generality.
 
studentdoctor08 said:
would you still be so set on med school? 🙂 I'm just interested in what most people would say here.
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Thats an easy question. Hellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll noooooooooooooooooo. I'm not all about money but I understand the law of opportunity cost and would rather allocate my talent elsewhere.
 
I probably wouldn't do it for anything less than $150k adjusted for inflation by the time I'm a doctor.
 
If doctors were only paid that much, then I would definitely not become a doctor. I am going into the field not only because I love it, but because it has the best compensation and job outlook of my current choices for a future career.
 
dediobst said:
Absolutely. I'm not intent on attending medical school only for the money. Sure, it's a nice bonus, but it's my fascination of the human body and love for medicine that's made me choose to go.
Click to expand...

i almost throw up reading this....
 
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