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Originally Posted by golfing eagles
Unfortunately, it's worse than that. Currently, there are about 900,000 practicing clinicians in the US; those are projected to shrink by as many as 250,000 over the next 5 years due to early retirement and alternative non patient care careers. Who is going to replace them? With a growing and aging population, demand will increase as supply shrinks. One of the main reasons for physician dissatisfaction is burdensome government regulation---and we all know what happens if the feds take over health care---just look at the VA.
When I applied to medical schools in 1979, there were 128,000 applicants for 17,000 seats overall; due to multiple applications, each school with 100-200 seats received 8-10,000 applications. You could randomly toss 90% in the trash and still have a great pool to choose from. Five years ago there were 23,000 applicants for the same 17,000 seats---choices have dwindled. Already, teaching hospitals cannot fill their positions with American graduates. At his rate, soon you can just walk in the front door and have a seat. It is no longer, if the left will pardon my foul language, "competitive" But then again, why bother with diplomas and licenses---just show your "participant" trophy. I'm sure we all would get that warm and fuzzy feeling when visiting a doctor who hangs a "Certificate of Participation" on their wall above their desk.
For the "grass is greener" crowd that idolizes European style health systems--just try living there--anyone who can afford to opt out of their system generally does so. It is fine for preventative care and routine minor illness, beyond that, make sure your affairs are in order.
And for those who believe the skewed and biased WHO rankings of world health care that places the US in 28th place and Luxembourg in 1st, consider this: We all know that when world leaders , royalty, and billionaires get sick, they flock to "Luxembourg"--not NY or Boston, right?
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Golfing Eagles,
Thank you for you insight. It's helpful to have another perspective.
This exactly the reason there are so many foreign doctors here; foreign medical grads (FMGs) pay next to nothing for medical school in their home country, then come to US to make money because their home country doesn't pay! While at the same time US medical school graduates pay upwards of $300,000 in tuition (with 8% interest).
Example:
Romania $5,000 per year for medical school.
US $60,000 per year for medical school.
....Additionally we have an oral surgeon in the family, by the time he finished up at UF he had spent close to $500,000 in tuition (undergrad + dental school + additional training).
Why hasn't the US built more medical schools to accommodate for the physician shortage the government predicted 20 years ago? Did the AAMC have a role in this? We produce roughly the same amount of doctors per year as we did when you graduated Golfing Eagles.
This is why there are so many foreign doctors in The Villages. They are here to attain their Visa and then either stay in the area or move away after they have completed their 3 year service commitment.
AAMC shares all the statistics for medical school applications etc., current figures are available. Just go to their website. The entrance exam known as the MCAT is taken after a student earns an undergraduate degree ($$ for tuition). The MCAT is now a 7.5 hour test. If a candidate earns a competitive score and has a GPA of 3.6-4.0 (on average) they can apply to medical school. After paying for another 4 years of tuition in medical school, they move onto residency. Foreign doctors do their residency here and have no student loans. So while American trained doctors are scraping by financially, foreign docs are laughing all the way to the bank.
Another advantage foreign doctors have is time, they do not need to get a 4 year degree before they apply/attend medical school. So they spend less time in school. Example: India you go straight to medical school out of high school. Romania you go to med school straight out of high school. America high school + undergrad + medical school.
Our system is so broken.