[gerpsh]

> School officials worry that rising tuition and soaring loan balances are pushing new doctors into high-paying fields and contributing to a shortage of researchers and primary care physicians.

I think this is only partially true, because it misunderstands the motivations of many would-be doctors. Sure, the cost of medical education factors into specialty decisions, but as long as derm and ortho are regarded as more _prestigious_ than family med and general peds, you're going to see similar residency application numbers. There's still a social hierarchy within the medical profession, which the price of tuition doesn't immediately change.

Still, this is great for people set on primary care as a career. Interestingly enough, my general observation has been that students who need the money the _least_ (i.e. people whose families are paying for their educations) are the ones who are gunning for the highest paid (and typically most prestigious) specialties.

[hectorr1]

In my experience, the people who go for the extra money in derm and ortho don't need it from a wealth perspective, but often need it from a social and self-worth perspective.

Over time this dynamic translates into to the prestige gap.

[adpirz]

Is derm really about prestige? Or is it about a relatively high salary with little to no on call time and mostly 9-5 hours?

[MrEfficiency]

Its important to clarify these arent 'doctors', these are Physicians.

There are doctors of physical therapy who make 60-100k.

Physicians have a government monopoly on prescription and referrals.

The scarcity in MD and DO licenses drives up the cost due to the power granted by the license.