Something is going wrong if you're making as a heart surgeon more than a corporate CEO because who pays for this? Is this making healthcare inaccessible to those who need it so someone can buy a yacht or two?
That being said, a heart surgeon has a very specific and wide-ranging set of knowledge and skills which not many people could have, not to mention the incredible amount of stress they’re under.
Where as well managed hospital run by CEO could impact lot more people effectively each and every day. Not that that pay should be insane either...
There are worker-coops that function perfectly well without a management layer leeching of actual productive people.
I mean practically I agree that some management is a good idea long term, and it's most efficient to have specific people for that, but to say that they are as important as the actual workers is ridiculous.
Yes, but in a just system they'd both also make less than they do now. Maybe ~$200k/year total compensation, say?
IIRC, surgeons had the prestige and power when the fundamentals of the modern American medical billing system were established, so "procedures" pay better than office visits, and surgeons get compensated waaay more than other doctors because they do lots of procedures.