Honestly surgeons should be paid hourly like technicians. $800/hr or something like that. For a 2 hour procedure, $1600. Another $5k for facility and support staff. Looks like medicare is on point...
Don't get me wrong. I support state-sponsored health care, especially after moving from the US to Norway over a decade ago. Just the peace of mind not having to worry so much about financial ruin because of health issues relieves so much stress - even stress related to just keeping yourself healthy is less (If I get hurt while jogging, it isn't a big issue, for example) But fixing the US system is bigger than just payments or insurance for all. Gotta fix things like education costs, the burden of unpaid internships, and things like that, too. I wish it weren't such a complicated problem and I wish there were the political desire to do such a thing.
It’s kind of like our industry - the higher comp is a big reason behind how the US attracts talent from all over the world.
Not every country is in contention, as even if, for example, Hungary has the best medicine program, very few people are gonna learn Hungarian just to attend the university. The same argument applies for every country which requires a non-english language for admission.
US software devs also make 2x what their European colleagues do, but that never gets called out as bloat. Plus US software devs make that 2x pay without taking our additional loans for medical school at the rate of $75k per year or doing years of low pay residency where their salary doesn’t give them the means to pay off those loans.
(Not in the medical field at all)
Of course it does. And it gets acted on. Every major corporation in America has explored or implemented moving to European or other foreign developers to save costs.
Developers also don’t have the advantage of a trade group that prevents this practice, requires particular education or limits the number of people allowed to get that education.
Unpaid time off and possible job loss if you have medical issues that require you to be off work? They still worry about health insurance and things like that. Poor work/life balance, no promise of using vacation time, especially weeks at a time? The worry of lawsuits? Little to no job security?
Money isn't everything. Money can't really buy the quality of life that legal protections can - it is harder to lose legal protections.
in that case you should double check your math, because it doesn't work out like that
> If doctors cannot pay back their student loans, it doesn't matter.
this is plain dishonesty. there have been actual discussions on how a significant number of physicians in the USA retire or semi-retire in their 50s!