I am not concerned about their finances.

Oh, but the whole reason to marry a doctor is so that you can be rich, not so your husband can take care of sick people.

(Yes, I know I'm assuming all doctors are men, but I'm sure we've all heard the stories about "Marry a doctor!")

One problem is that doctors, to have a reasonable amount of money coming in, book appointments in 15 minute blocks and most patients need much more time than that, which causes delays. Also doctors are not paid for all the time to do paperwork outside those office visits.

Honestly, that doesn't sound too different from the way things are here except that the doctors are billing insurance companies instead of a government agency.

[eta: In private practice, that is. I think most hospitals have internal systems for handling billing and paperwork.]

I mean, all the youngish doctors I know (classmates from high school and we have a neighbor who is an ER doc) seem to be doing just fine. I am not concerned about their finances.

Oh, of course! I am in no way concerned about the finances of the average US doctor.

Even at the nonprofit network of clinics I used to work at (mostly covered by medicaid and sliding-scale fees), the top few employees by salary are doctors, and the first one without other responsibilities (just listed as "physician" in the 990) made $162K in 2006.

Honestly, that doesn't sound too different from the way things are here except that the doctors are billing insurance companies instead of a government agency.

US doctors get to bill more.

But I have heard a few news stories about doctors who had moved to the US moving back to Canada, because the medical insurance bureaucracy was impossible to deal with.

I would think that there must be some downward pressure on doctor salaries from insurance companies.

US doctors get to bill more.

It's weird, but when I get the statements from the insurance company, the doctor bills twice as much as the insurance company is willing to pay, and I don't make up the difference. So I'm wondering where the extra money comes from. Sad people without insurance?

Doctors working at academic institutions make significantly less than doctors in private practice and still have to pay off those same medical school bills. It varies a lot depending on specialty of course.

Man, my brother I love him but WHY can't he plan ahead like a normal person?! He let's me know today that they'll be in town tonight (picking up a friend who's in from freaking Taiwan so they must have know she was coming weeks ago!) and want to have dinner. And they want to have dinner someplace with lobster that is also a good place to bring their one-year old. Jesus! The one-year old is also the only reason I'm even thinking of trying to meet up with them. I'm exhausted and was really really loving the idea of putting on my inside pants and sitting on my sofa tonight!

Oh and the other thing about doctors' salaries here not being all that they may seem is the prohibitively large cost of malpractice insurance.

Although I'm sure this woman & her doctor husband who have no debt will be fine.

I had to have a masters degree to teach in CT, and twelve years and two state and one national certifications later, I am not even making half a third of what an average doctor makes when s/he starts. My debts are paltry compared to theirs because I went to a state school on scholarship and interned to offset my graduate school costs, but I'm still paying the damn things, 11 years later.

I know this is news to none of you, and I'm not arguing that doctors aren't very important, but sometimes the inequity just makes me want to scream.