You do realize under a government controlled system physicians would be the ones most negatively affected even if "they aren't the problem". Just look up current medicare billing codes and compare it to private practice. I'll give one example: for an ENT to put tubes in medicare will pay 170-250ish but pp pays 800ish, that's a substantial difference. And with a m4a system where the gov is the only one setting the price, that medicare rate for tubes will PLUMENT, as it will for every other procedure and office visit. All while nancy pelosi, mitch mcconel, and chuck shummer and other aristocratic politicians get rich off of doctors hard work and education.
Given this user is not a doctor, this will not be a very convincing argument. The average person sees doctor
salaries and equates that to other salaries they know. They think they can compare the salary of a doctor, after 8 years of post-secondary education and 3-10 years working at slave wages for 90+ hours/week, to the salary of someone in sales, computer science, finance, or even law. Doctors miss out on so much investment opportunity early in life due to loans and long training pathways that the $200-400k salaries people see are really equivalent to $100k-200k in lifetime earnings. The reason doctors today are rich is because they are born rich and because they are essentially forced to be financially responsible when young and paid for that sacrifice later. Cut doctor salaries any further and it will become a pure vanity profession for the wealthy.
If an engineer makes $80k out of college at 22 and rises incrementally to $120k by 30, but lives like a medical student and saves/invests that whole time, he/she could easily save up $400-500k. $400k with college debt. $500k without. So that $120k plus the savings is really more like $160-170k because of the extra income from investments. Meanwhile, during that time a physician goes massively in debt and gets paid pennies, basically unable to save up anything at all. If that same engineer lives on ~$50k raw expenses until they are 35 (
not counting money paid into a mortgage, because that is investment, not expense, and thus $50k is actually a very generous lifestyle), they have a net worth of $1MM and effectively make an extra $70k-100k from investments alone. So that engineer making ~$150k at 35 is actually bringing in $220k-250k. As they get older, this continues to rise, and by retirement most professionals are making more from interest on their nest eggs as they are from salary (i.e. $2MM in retirement funds makes in the range of $140-200k in returns every year on average).
Physician income reflects the complete inability to participate in capitalism until later in life. However, all people see is outlier cardiologist salaries.
The only reason this isn't blatantly obvious in the real world is because people spend their money, 90% of it on average. The 25 year old engineer is taking nice trips abroad and living in a one bedroom while the medical student is riding a bicycle they bought used on Craigslist and living with 3 roommates who only barely reliably pay rent (true story, welcome to my life). The engineer isn't living like a medical student and becoming a millionaire by 35 because practically no one wants to live like a medical student, but in terms of
opportunity to acquire wealth, doctors don't have it better than anyone else, and nearly everyone who becomes a doctor could have earned as much if not more money over a lifetime in another profession. Doctors completely earn their salary and deserve their fair shake when the sacrifice is done. I don't want to see a single person tell me that the valedictorians and overachievers of our society who sacrifice their entire 20s and most of their 30s getting paid pennies and getting worked to the bone while literally taking people's lives into their hands should earn less.
The above needs to be the #1 talking point with physicians any time someone suggests cutting salaries. We don't get the benefits of European physicians, with subsidized education, fewer training years, and early career entry.
That's my rant on salaries. Please understand this and use these arguments effectively when you hear someone lamenting about physician salaries. Basically anyone making six figures could live like a physician if they live like a medical student/resident until they are 35.
Finally, I just want to take a moment to recognize that many of those who are commenting on this thread are not verified and have no status as healthcare providers, medical students, or anything else. It's very common for activists to take to online message boards to push particular narratives, which is why you see sensationalism and oversimplification in a lot of the arguments.
Always remember to think about who you are actually arguing with, and especially on physician/professional boards, ask yourself if it's worth your time to refute a few individuals who clearly have an agenda and won't be convinced otherwise.