According to a University of Illinois survey from 1985, 70.1 percent of the 843 people polled said they believed that physicians were overcompensated. That sentiment remains prevalent today.
It is no secret that doctors make significantly more than the average American, but do they actually earn those six-figure salaries?
You bet they do. Doctors have one of the most difficult, demanding and competitive careers available. They deserve every last cent.
Unfortunately, anti-physician sentiment is often brought about by public misconceptions of what doctors do and how they get paid.
Perhaps one of the most common fallacies is that doctors’ salaries are to blame for the high cost of health care. In reality, doctors are nowhere near the top of the healthcare food chain. Their income makes up a mere 8.6 percent of this country’s total healthcare costs.
Another misinformed grievance that we all can relate to: calling the 10-minute appointment that costs $100 a rip-off. In actuality, the bill also covers the other approximately 20 minutes the doctor spends on documentation, evaluating tests, consulting with other doctors and writing orders, prescriptions and notes. Also consider the cost of electricity; medical equipment; the nurse, tech and receptionist salaries; and the coding, billing and collecting fees. Do not forget the malpractice insurance, which costs $10,000 to $200,000, depending on state and specialty. While it appears doctors are greedily billing $100 for 10 minutes of work, it is more accurate that they are earning about $50 for 30 minutes of work.
Of course, a salary of $100 an hour is a lot of money. That is approximately $200,000 anually. Depending on the specialty, they can make more than twice that amount.
I know many people are thinking that they are skilled, intelligent professionals deserving of that salary, too. It would be great if we were all millionaires, but doctors make a lot of unique sacrifices that entitle them to more money than the average professional.
The road to becoming a doctor is long and toilsome. First, four years of undergrad where organic chemistry, molecular cell biology and the dreaded MCAT ultimately weed out 80 to 90 percent of medical school prospects. Then come another four years of medical school followed by three to eight years of residency, depending on the specialty. Doctors get paid during residency, but the average pay for a resident is $40,000 for 80 hours of work per week. Doctors do not start making six-figure salaries, if they get even that, until they are in their mid-30s. Even then, doctors must pay off their student debts, which average $160,000.
In addition, many doctors have to be “on call” for many additional hours per week. This entails getting called into work in the middle of the night and planning an entire day around a beeper.
At most jobs, when something goes wrong, it is a bummer, but most errors can be fixed. This is not the case for doctors. Mistakes are not tolerated by anyone — not the doctor, not the hospital, not the patient and especially not the patient’s attorney.
America has arguably the best health care in the world. In 2008, 85,000 medical tourists traveled to the United States to receive health care. The notion that our doctors should not make more money than the average American is ludicrous. If we do not pay doctors well, there will not be enough doctors, and the ones we get will not be the ones we want.
William Kartsonis is a contributing writer. Email him at [email protected].
