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Are doctors overpaid?
That’s a tricky question for several reasons. Getting good data is hard and mostly based on surveys, there are variations across the country and among specialists plus few doctors work a 40 hour week.
If you are a patient and your doctor provides life saving care, I suspect what they earn doesn’t matter, it wouldn’t to me. In any case, chances are you aren’t paying the bill yourself.
After looking at the data from several sources, my opinion is that doctors are not overpaid even though U.S. physicians earn more than in other countries.
American doctors earn two to three times as much as in European countries, not adjusted for cost of living being higher in the U.S. And of course, the U.S has, shall we say, a unique market-based healthcare system.
Another big difference is the cost of medical education and training. In European countries physician education is highly tax-payer subsidized or fully paid or to use a misused word “free.” In the U.S. many new doctors graduate with a $200,000 to $250,000 in debt.
General the highest paid doctors are orthopedic surgeons they make an average $202 an hour. The lowest paid are pediatricians at $103 and hour, but even OB/GYNs only make $130 and hour. The key is the hours worked.
Looking at it another way Orthopedic surgeons earn on average $543,000 a year and pediatricians $258,000. In some surveys cardiologists are up there at $582,000, but others have them at $506,000. You can explore the data here.
There is a high cost in different ways as a result of the American view on paying for health care. I’m pretty sure we have it wrong.
Not a doc but have several in the family. The malpractice insurance is unreal. The ambulance chasers have their hands in our pockets indirectly.
Yeeesh. No wonder our friend, a retired orthopedic surgeon, drives a Porsche convertible!
US doctors need high salaries because it takes so long and so much money to become qualified. In contrast , these are the UK requirements: “Before you become a UK doctor you first have to obtain a degree in medicine from a medical school whose medical degrees we accept. Courses normally last five years, or four years for a graduate entry programme. [In other words, you don’t need a bachelor’s degree.] They involve basic medical sciences as well as clinical training on the wards.
After graduation, you’ll enter the two-year Foundation Programme. You’ll be provisionally registered with a licence to practise while completing the first year. Full registration is awarded when you’ve completed year one.” Presumably it takes longer for specialists, but my impression is that the UK has a lot more primary care doctors than specialists.
I’ve also read that there are artificial limits on the number of doctors in the US, which would also lead to higher salaries. See this, for instance.
This is an interesting topic, but after looking at your source, White Coat, the data seems funky. My son is a primary care doc in the Midwest. The big issue I see is that PC docs work a lot of hours. While many are on salary plus some kind of bonus, they must qualify for their salary based on what is billed and received under the current scheme. Everything that they do (which can be billed for) is quantified by converting it into Relative Value Units, or RVUs. Every billing code has a related RVU quantity. BUT, they do not get paid for time they spend answering email, returning phone calls, refilling Rxs, review test results, writing letters to patients with test results or anything else that happens outside of time spent with patients. So, if you see sicker patients, your time with them will generate more RVUs, but potentially more admin work as well. If as a doc you do not generate enough RVUs, you won’t get your bonus, and the next year your salary might be reduced. I think the system is a bit chaotic; if you see too many Medicare or Medicaid patients, you may still generate a lot of RVUs, but since your employer doesn’t get paid as much for those units as they do for younger insured patients your bonus will suffer. Of course, you have no control over who can sign up for an appointment.
My son sees his patients between 8am and 5pm but must do much of the admin work in the evenings and on weekends.
Specialists get more RVUs than do PC docs. Potentially, this is a reason that there is a current shortage of PC docs, and you might be seen by an NP or Physician’s Assistant. (Your AI will see you now.)
My grandson is starting medical school this fall. As an in-state student it will cost him around $80-90k per year for tuition and living expenses for each year. Many students borrow this much or more. Non-residents pay twice the tuition increasing their cost to $130k+ per year. I think the current loan interest rates are in the 8% and up range.