Doctors and Debt
Filed under: Education Costs, Physician Compensation, Primary Physician, Primary Physician Shortage
An article in the NY Times reports that The New England Journal of Medicine has said that “Almost one-quarter of U.S. medical students now graduate from medical school with $200,000 or more in debt, an expense that limits entry to the profession.”
A graph which tracks various educational costs and doctor compensation in relation to the CPI over the last 10 years accompanies the article.
Of particular note, Over the last 10 years:
The CPI has risen slightly more than 30%
The cost of:
Public 4-year undergraduate tuition has risen over 100%
Private 4-year undergraduate tuition has risen over 70%
Public “in state” med school tuition has risen over 100%
Public “out of state” med school tuition has risen 70%
Private “in state” med school tuition has risen 50%
Private “out of state” med school tuition has risen roughly 45%
The median compensation for:
All medical specialists has risen roughly 42.5%
Primary care physicians has risen roughly 30%
The median compensation for primary care physicians has risen slightly less than the CPI.
In a recent post, we noted that the AMA has predicted a future shortage of 35,000 to 40,000 primary care physicians. See full NY Times article and graph here.
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