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by conanbatt 3248 days ago
It would not affect everyone equally, and wages in many areas would definitely go down. For example, if the US recognized medical degrees from other countries, the influx of doctors would be so large that the income for a physician would drop tremendously. So the physicians that are already employed should (if they represent their own interest) be very against such a policy. But the aggregate would end up being that the total salaries earned by doctors in the us would go up.

i.e. if you had 5 doctors at 500k, and you opened up, maybe you would have 10 doctors at 300k. This is a natural economic progression. Same with software engineers: open borders would definitely have a stark impact on median income, but there would be more startups and more work and more people employed in the sector.
2 comments
maxerickson 3248 days ago
The US does recognize medical degrees from other countries and leans on foreign doctors heavily.

We require them to go through a US residency.

Something like 1/4 of doctors in the US are foreign born.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/health/12chen.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/02/the-value...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolefisher/2016/07/12/25-of-d...

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conanbatt 3248 days ago
Residencies are one of the most grueling experiences for human beings ,and a restriction that makes doctors go through that process twice (in their home country and then in the US) amounts to a strong restriction.

Asking an experienced doctor to go through a residency is worse than asking software developers to get a doctorate if they want to write code in the US.

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ghufran_syed 3248 days ago
Also, it's not that easy to actually get a place in a US residency, even if you are willing to go through it again.
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PeterisP 3248 days ago
Looking at the concerns of US population, I'd bet that they'd be quite happy with the notion that increased supply could cause a significant decrease in doctor salaries and thus medical costs.

Protection benefits the industry, lack of protectionism benefits everyone else; and patients have much more votes than doctors.

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conanbatt 3248 days ago
100% agree with the first part.

The second part is true, but the patients do not so clearly see the benefit, while the doctors would personally see and feel the pain of such a measure! The interest and understanding of the latter makes them very powerfully motivated.

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