HIPAA Blog

[ Friday, January 11, 2008 ]

 

Off Topic, mostly: Occasionally I'm in the position of trying to defend "obscene" doctor's salaries. Usually it's with healthcare industry reformers or managed care companies, but occasionally even young, idealistic doctors think "doctors" get paid too much (usually, they think it's a generalized problem but don't think they're part of the problem subset). My primary defense is that the market must determine the worth or value of a particular individual with a particular skill, and that doctors provide a particularly worthy service. But my shut-down-the-argument point is this: if doctors don't make much money, smart young men and women coming out of college will not go into medicine. Why work that hard in med school, internships, residencies, fellowships, etc. if you could make a hell of a lot more money being a lawyer or investment banker? Like water flowing downhill, the best and brightest will (and should) go where they can make the most money. Do you want the really smart kids to become investment bankers, and let the bright-but-not-brightest become doctors?

Well, it's apparently true that this happens. According to this article and this article, the best and brightest ARA shunning not only med school but law school for the investment banking business.

Jeff [10:41 AM]

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