Medicine
My wife and I are both family physicians, 9 and 8 years out from medical school graduation, respectively. Principal and interest payments on our remaining combined six-figure student loan debt consume about 5% of our pre-tax income each year, and at our current rate of repayment, we could still be paying off this debt when our oldest child starts college. But after attending my alma mater's annual Alumni brunch in Washington, DC recently, I realized that today's future family physicians are much worse off than we are.
Consider these figures from a follow-up solicitation letter for scholarship donations: "Among the 155 members of the Class of 2008, 78 percent graduated with an average debt load of nearly $143,000. 18 percent graduated with a debt load that exceeded $200,000." These figures are hardly atypical for most private (and some public) medical schools. Given these grim numbers, it's a wonder that any medical students choose careers in primary care - the lowest-paid specialties being general pediatrics, family medicine, and general internal medicine.
In a 2008 letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, family physician-educator Mark Ebell, MD, MS demonstrated a near-linear association between median income and the percentage of U.S. senior medical students who entered a medical speciality - put simply, students go where the money is. And given their increasingly staggering debt loads, who can really blame them?
- Yes, Family Medicine Is An Affordable Career Choice
The inexorable yearly rise of medical school tuition has led to corresponding increases in medical student debt. According to the American Medical Association, 86 percent of graduating medical students in 2011 had loans to repay, and their average...
- Re-priming The Primary Care Pipeline
If you've been reading this blog since its inception, you are now well aware that primary care is essential to any high-performing health system, including those in other countries, but that the "pipeline" for primary care physicians in the U.S. has...
- Reform Primary Care First, And Health Care Will Follow
I mentioned in an earlier posting that fewer medical students each year are choosing to pursue careers in the primary care specialties (family medicine, general pediatrics, and general internal medicine). The reasons for the decline have been documented...
- Impact Of Medical School Tuition
In my blog, How much should medical school cost?, I wrote about an innovative proposal by Peter Bach and Robert Kocher to make medical school free. Dr. Bach is the director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center....
- How Much Should Medical School Cost?
It does not seem that many people care very much about the cost of medical education in the US. But we should be concerned. Did you know that the average debt for a medical student on graduation from a state funded medical school is about $150,000. To...
Medicine
Primary care: no next generation?
My wife and I are both family physicians, 9 and 8 years out from medical school graduation, respectively. Principal and interest payments on our remaining combined six-figure student loan debt consume about 5% of our pre-tax income each year, and at our current rate of repayment, we could still be paying off this debt when our oldest child starts college. But after attending my alma mater's annual Alumni brunch in Washington, DC recently, I realized that today's future family physicians are much worse off than we are.
Consider these figures from a follow-up solicitation letter for scholarship donations: "Among the 155 members of the Class of 2008, 78 percent graduated with an average debt load of nearly $143,000. 18 percent graduated with a debt load that exceeded $200,000." These figures are hardly atypical for most private (and some public) medical schools. Given these grim numbers, it's a wonder that any medical students choose careers in primary care - the lowest-paid specialties being general pediatrics, family medicine, and general internal medicine.
In a 2008 letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, family physician-educator Mark Ebell, MD, MS demonstrated a near-linear association between median income and the percentage of U.S. senior medical students who entered a medical speciality - put simply, students go where the money is. And given their increasingly staggering debt loads, who can really blame them?
That's why I was excited to hear that the recently established University of Central Florida College of Medicine awarded full scholarships to its entire inaugural class of 41 students. Other schools may soon follow suit. Not surprisingly, UCF was the most selective medical school in the country this year. But will the absence of student loan debt result in this school ultimately training more primary care physicians? Only time will tell.
- Yes, Family Medicine Is An Affordable Career Choice
The inexorable yearly rise of medical school tuition has led to corresponding increases in medical student debt. According to the American Medical Association, 86 percent of graduating medical students in 2011 had loans to repay, and their average...
- Re-priming The Primary Care Pipeline
If you've been reading this blog since its inception, you are now well aware that primary care is essential to any high-performing health system, including those in other countries, but that the "pipeline" for primary care physicians in the U.S. has...
- Reform Primary Care First, And Health Care Will Follow
I mentioned in an earlier posting that fewer medical students each year are choosing to pursue careers in the primary care specialties (family medicine, general pediatrics, and general internal medicine). The reasons for the decline have been documented...
- Impact Of Medical School Tuition
In my blog, How much should medical school cost?, I wrote about an innovative proposal by Peter Bach and Robert Kocher to make medical school free. Dr. Bach is the director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center....
- How Much Should Medical School Cost?
It does not seem that many people care very much about the cost of medical education in the US. But we should be concerned. Did you know that the average debt for a medical student on graduation from a state funded medical school is about $150,000. To...