What is all the moaning and groaning about.  What a bunch of whiners.  For the life of me I can’t understand why every high school sophomore doesn’t want to grow up to be a doctor.  I mean, how good does it have to get?

 

First you can plan on graduating high school.  If you live in Chicago that would of course assume that you aren’t shot and killed on your way to or from school.  But let’s assume you keep your nose to the grind stone and get good grades and do well on your ACT test (might not even have to worry about that because they are talking of dropping that test all together). 

 

You are accepted at a great college and for the next four years you can study and learn and run up huge educational bills.  But don’t worry, you can borrow from a wide range of programs at very low interest rates and defer pay back almost forever if you stay in school.  Let’s just say that a four year private college degree is going to set you back about $50,000.

 

But again, you are committed and study hard and get good grades and apply for medical school.  Just applying for medical school will set you back between $1500 to $3000.  But once you are in you are really going to have some fun.  Let’s say that you managed to get into a great private medical school.  You can look forward to 16 hour days, little time off, lots of stress and best of all you get to pile up some more debt…lots of debt.  Even with financial aid and family help and a part time job (bad idea I’m told) the yearly cost of medical school can run between $22,000 on the low end and $50,000 on the high end.  The average medical school grad has piled up $120,000 in debt!

 

But do not be deterred.  This is a life long investment you are making and you can count on steady employment and a great life style…well, maybe.  But I digress.  The educational carousel is still turning.  Just because you got your MD doesn’t mean you are ready to start curing the sick. 

 

Welcome to residency.  Now your 16 hour days go up to 28 hour days 8 days a week.  After all, you have only been in school for 20 years so far and you have a lot to learn.  So, its three more years of hard work, long hours and stress.  But at least you are finally getting paid for your labors.  That’s right! No more tuition.  You are going to be making $35,000 per year as an almost doctor.  Now to some that may seem like a good deal of money.  But if you consider that the interest clock is ticking on your medical debt and you do need a roof over your head (for those rare occasions when you aren’t in the hospital) and food to eat…well, I wouldn’t plan on taking a chunk out of your personal liabilities.

 

But the day finally comes and you finish your residency and are ready to become a primary care physician and make some money.  Right?  Well…..As a primary care physician you will probably be paid between $30 and $70 to see each patient.  Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement hasn’t gone up in over a decade.  And the government is going to dump another 31 million new patients into the deep end of the pool and they are all going to want to come and see you.  And the government is going to pay for it all by cutting Medicare by a half a trillion dollars and by cutting reimbursement to….you guessed it…doctors.

 

I guess you can plan on more 70 hour work weeks, heavy patient loads and a salary that should have you debt free in about another ten years or so.  Considering you were probably around 27 years old when you graduated…well you do the math.

 

So, what is all the whining about.  You are 37 years old.  You will be earning a full salary for the first time in your life.  The government is doing everything in its power to put you out of business.  Your insurance is going up…reimbursement is going down…patient loads are going up….time off is going down.  But look at it on the bright side.  If you compute your earnings by the hour, you are making at least as much as an auto worker and your prospects for continued employment are better.  And in only another 25 years you will qualify for Social Security…assuming its still solvent.

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