by David Furritus

Created on: March 07, 2010   Last Updated: March 08, 2010

Doctors don’t make unfair amounts of money. You know who makes unfair amounts of money? Student Loan companies, Universities, and Lawyers. The next time you’re wondering why your medical costs are too high and why we’re so desperately in need of health care reform, try not to look at how much doctors make.

First let’s look at how people become doctors:

First, they have to go to a good school and go pre-med. This means that they’re going to have to do a solid four years of study and more than likely, it will be through the use of financial aid like scholarships (if they’re smart and/or lucky) or student loans. These student loans will add up pretty fast and before they’re even out of their pre-med program they could be looking at a good $50,000 in student loans.

Then comes medical school. Those are anything but cheap, and they’ll easily have six figures worth of student loans by then. Then, they’re off to their internship and they’re not exactly going to be earning that much there either. They’ll be working long shifts to come home to ramen noodles and/or mac & cheese. Not exactly living the life yet, are they?

Once they get to their residency they’ll start to earn a little bit more, but they’re going to start facing their student loan repayments. Once their residency is completed they’re going to be looking at some massive payments every month.

Okay, so now they’re through all of that nonsense and they’re REAL doctors. They’ll probably work in hospitals, but a few gifted ones might go back to school for specialties. Once that’s done they’re earning those “huge doctor’s salaries” which are going mostly toward student loans – but, wait: now, they have a new problem: malpractice insurance.

If you ever watch daytime tv on local channels you’ll see all of those commercials that feature some guy in a stuffed shirt with an unbelievable hairpiece saying “Have you or any loved ones been injured, or killed in a hospital? We’ll help you get maximum restitution” – or something to that effect. These people make a nice fat living off of suing doctors for ANYTHING. In order for even the best of doctors to deal with these constant lawsuits, they have to pay for insurance – lots of it.

So, while doctors are often portrayed as incredibly rich people that love to pay golf on Wednesdays, for every one of those, you’re bound to find at least ten younger doctors that can barely afford a round of putt-putt golf with their friends.

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