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Comment by nappy-doo | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone know if the single payer models we use in the US keep Dr. salaries on par? I've only heard of savings from negotiated drug prices, and insurance overhead; but, if Dr. salaries are also decreased, OP's got an interesting point.

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From my understanding of Bernie's "Medicare For All" bill (S. 1804) [1] payment to providers would be fixed at the, well, Medicare rate. Medicare rates are about 40% lower than private insurance (about 56% of national healthcare spending is private), but it's also higher than Medicaid and obviously higher than what the uninsured pay. All-in-all, from the figures I've seen [2], this specific single-payer plan would lead to about a 10.6% [3] overall reduction in payment to providers (some of which will be ameliorated by a reduction in costs that maintain complicated insurance administration work at hospitals) but I imagine providers will generally take some percent hit to payments which would in turn affect physician salaries (albeit not drastically)

[1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/180... [2] https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/blahous-costs-medicare... [3] https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2018/08/15/provider-pay...

I don't think doctor salaries are substantially lower in Canada.

I couldn't find the original study that these articles are based off of..

"Canadian doctors still make dramatically less than U.S. counterparts: study" https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-doctors-still-...

US doctors earn much more than peers, study says https://bangordailynews.com/2011/09/09/health/us-doctors-ear...

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