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by forum_ghost 1478 days ago
Anyone who keeps talking about averages or statistical outcomes does not understand the first thing about medicine: there is no averages.

Because of deep sub-specialization you only have an agglomeration of outliers that are really good at what they do, and then the plankton, just like in every profession.

You can either have someone that knows exactly what he’s doing, or someone who rarely does it. A large part of medicine is guesswork, and you want someone who’s seen enough to be doing the guessing.

There is no shortage of physicians if you have the money. You can see the absolute best physician of your choice literally tomorrow if you have enough money to name a hospital wing. They’ll just see you while they eat their lunch, or come in an hour earlier.

The shortage you are talking about, is a shortage of competent, qualified saints willing to forego compensation after spending a decade in training to treat the poor.

If your expectation is that the top talent should for peanuts - do you really think there can be no shortages? You are literally asking for saints and miracles.

P.S. >there's more to life than just strictly salary. Things like retirement benefits, socialized healthcare, safety nets etc all contribute to reasons why this occurs.

$2-3 million/year solve all of the above. There is more to life, but 90% of every graduating class are there for money, nothing less.

1 comments

No, I'm talking about a very literal shortage of physicians in the US. Not a shortage of saints or whatever tangent you're going on. The US has a physician shortage. I will repeat under your argument there should be no physician shortage in the US because the US has among the highest salaries for physicians. This should not happen by the argument you keep repeating.

The fact that someone can see a physician tomorrow with enough money is irrelevant because with enough money they are no limited to the US. Experts are not located entirely within the US, hence why many millionaire/billionaires will travel for medical aid because other countries might have people with more expertise in XYZ.

The rest of your comment is completely irrelevant to the argument I'm making.

>This should not happen by the argument you keep repeating.

you do not understand how the industry works. salaries are high because the supply is constrained.

supply is capped. by residency availability.

doctors, like many others, don't want to live in some areas, and supply ends up being unevenly distributed.

In any major US metro, you can see a cardiologist TOMORROW. Don't even have to be a millionaire.

https://www.merritthawkins.com/uploadedFiles/MerrittHawkins/...

Let me guess, next will be "but muh AVERAGES"?

You can remain average. Best of luck.

Can you please edit the swipes out of your comments? You've posted good things but unfortunately they're interspersed with hostile/inflammatory bits, and we're trying to avoid the latter here. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

no edit button?

feel free to edit/nuke it, nbd.