Is it financially sound to go into medicine?

General Med Student Discussion
1

I’ve been speaking to a few people who are considering becoming physicians for the financial security. From my experience, there are much easier to gain financial freedom. Going to Grad school and piling on the debt takes forever to work off even if you make a decent salary. This was a pretty interesting read about to salary per hour of the typical physical. Though it does sound at times the guy is whining, there are some good points.


http://www.eyedrd.org/2011/02/deceptive-inc ome-of-…



2
  • medecindumonde Said:
I've been speaking to a few people who are considering becoming physicians for the financial security...



My 2c:

For the effort, sacrifices, and sheer amount of time required to become a physician, going into medicine for just the financial security is a phenomenally bad decision. Nevertheless, I admit, it is made by a significant number of matriculants who end up making bad doctors.
3

I love the teachers response in the comments section…

4

The most recent data posted by Medical Group Management Association shows that physician income, when adjusted for inflation, has been flat since 2004 and actually went down the last two years. There are many rewarding things about being a physician, but financial reward isn’t one of them. That being said, you will likely make a comfortable living doing something you love. Really, can it get any better?

5

But, do the forces that make it financially unsound (I.e. Reimbursement rates, paperwork, risk of malpractice) also take away from the ideal vision of practicing medicine making for disillusioned physicians?

6

Tara, you have a good point. The amount of administrative time that must be spent in order to get paid can be demoralizing. The whole paradigm of private practice is changing and I don’t know of anybody who has a clear picture of how this is all going to shake out. Lately I’ve been encouraging our graduating residents to be flexible and look at other options to private practice, including active duty military, DOD employment or contracts, national health service, hospital owned practices, large multi-specialty groups, etc. I’d be interested to hear more about what you’re doing, what made you choose a military career, how it compares to private practice, etc.