There you go again...

Reader comment on: John Cochrane on the Fiscal Cliff

Submitted by Dr Ben (United States), Dec 25, 2012 17:27

Doctors' compensation is artificially high? And all that other anti-free market noise about drug companies, office staffs, etc. Mr Stoll, you are a reliable defender of all things capitalist, but you have a persistent blind spot when it comes to medicine.

Are med school graduates being turned away from residency? No. Every US grad gets a spot, and even many foreigners get spots. Should the residency lottery be broken up under anti-trust law. Heck yes. Guess what, that would result in HIGHER PAY for residents who would then gain bargaining power over these awful, awful jobs (80-100 abusive hours per week for $35K). The overall effect, of course, would be higher medical costs; so this won't ever happen.

Even doctors, after residency, have little say in what they make. The government (and its instruments, the insurance companies) dictate compensation. Let's see how long lawyers would tolerate such a situation. Or journalists. And doctors pay has been declining in real dollars for decades.

So, Mr Stoll, if you want to disincentivize intelligent and motivated people from going into medicine (or developing blockbuster drugs in the case of the drug companies you demonize), slam them and their overblown compensation.

The facts don't support you, and the results will displease you.

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