Name: Are American Doctors Overpaid?
Uploaded: 2022-09-09T17:35:31.000Z
Duration: 11 min 23 s
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The United States is known for having some of the highest-paid doctors in the world;

however, it’s also known for having some of the highest healthcare costs in the world.

This has led many to wonder, “are American doctors overpaid?”

And are those costs being passed onto patients?

As with any question, it’s important to look at both sides of the debate.

We’ll start by exploring the arguments in favor of American doctors being overpaid followed

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Let’s start with the salary for U.S. physicians compared to other countries.

According to Medscape’s 2022 Physician Compensation Report, the average physician in the United

States earns approximately $339,000 per year.

If we break this down further, the average primary care physician earns approximately

$260,000 and the average specialist earns $368,000.

This puts physicians in the top 2-5% of U.S. earners.

It should be noted that physician compensation in the U.S. varies widely both within and

For instance, doctors working in private practice can often earn significantly more than physicians

working in community or academic centers.

In addition, more lucrative specialties such as plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery, and

cardiology can easily earn upwards of $500,000 per year whereas less lucrative specialties

such as family medicine and pediatrics may earn significantly less than that.

Now let’s compare these numbers to doctors in other countries.

In Canada, the average physician earns approximately $354,000 CAD per year.

If we convert this to U.S. currency, this is approximately $255,000–which is roughly

$84,000 less per year than the average U.S. physician.

In the United Kingdom, the average physician earns £103,000 per year which equates to

And in Germany, the average physician earns roughly 93,000 EURwhich currently equates

As we can see from these numbers, U.S. physicians are paid substantially more than physicians

Another argument in favor of American doctors being overpaid is that the physician shortage

There is no shortage of people who want to become doctors.

Rather, there are systems in place that have limited the number of physicians that can

be trained each year–the most notable of which is the “residency bottleneck.”

This, in turn, has inflated physician salaries.

Each year, thousands of medical students who apply for residency don’t get into a single

During the most recent 2022 NRMP Match, approximately 6,400 students went unmatched.

These are individuals who have completed medical school, passed their board exams, and demonstrated

that they have what it takes to be a doctor–and yet, they are unable to continue their training.

Instead, they must take a gap year to strengthen their application and reapply in hopes of

This lack of residency positions then trickles down and limits our ability to expand medical

The reason that there aren’t enough residency spots is due to the lack of Medicare Graduate

Caps on funding imposed in 1997 have severely limited the number of facilities eligible

to receive federal funding making it much harder to open new residency programs.

This is slowly changing with the recent 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act which will

have Medicare provide an additional 1,000 funded slots over 5 years starting in 2023;

however, there will still be thousands of students who go unmatched each year.

By limiting the number of physicians that can be trained each year, the United States

has artificially inflated the demand for physicians giving doctors more leverage in salary negotiations.

This has subsequently driven up salaries.

It’s simple supply and demand: if there are fewer people offering a service, they

For this reason, as the U.S. takes steps toward addressing the physician shortage, we may

very well see physician salaries begin to decrease.

To learn more about the issue of physician shortages in the United States, be sure to

check out Why Does America Have So Few Doctors?–link in the description.

Lastly, some people argue that many of the responsibilities of a physician can be accomplished

by mid-level providers, such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners, at a much

Traditionally, mid-level providers work in a collaborative fashion with doctors–similar

to the relationship between an attending physician and a resident physician.

That being said, there has been an increased push for independent practice for PAs and

NPs in recent years, allowing some mid-levels to practice autonomously and without a supervising

The average physician in the United States earns approximately $339,000 per year, whereas

the average PA earns $122,000 per year and the average NP $118,000 per year.

This large gap in pay has led many to question if healthcare costs can be decreased by using

mid-level providers in place of physicians in some clinical settings.

That being said, there are significant differences in the training, experience, and level of

knowledge between physicians and mid-level providers.

As such, there are many concerns regarding independent practice beyond finances.

That discussion, however, is beyond the scope of this video.

For a comprehensive overview of the independent practice debate, be sure to check out our

NP & PA vs MD & DOcomparison video – link in the description.

Now let’s get into the arguments against American doctors being overpaid.

To start, becoming a doctor in the United States is incredibly expensive.

Before starting medical school, you must first complete a four-year bachelor’s degree.

According to a U.S. News annual survey, the average cost of college tuition per year in

2022 was $40,000 for private colleges, $23,000 for out-of-state students at public schools,

and $10,000 for in-state residents at public colleges.

This means that it costs students anywhere from $40,000 to $160,000 to earn their bachelor’s

And these numbers don’t take into account the various other fees associated with applying

to medical school including the costs of taking (and sometimes re-taking) the MCAT, application

In contrast, many other countries allow students to matriculate into medical school straight

out of high school with some even offering free college tuition.

Once U.S. students gain admission to medical school, however, the costs escalate even further.

As of 2022, the average cost of medical school tuition in the United States is approximately

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