Excuse me, but this is wanton socialist blather, not an analysis. Patently un-American. Please go practice in another country if you want to practice this way.

If you have friends in law who are getting paid anywhere near what a physician does and are just a couple years out of law school, they do not have much free time. Those top firms that pay the high salaries have very high billable hour requirements.

I did. I took an HPSP scholarship with the Navy and completed repayment by working for four years, at less pay than I would have made as a civilian for the same work. The tradeoff was a delay to my training (not something I recommend).

Do I think that was a fair tradeoff? I am not sure. Even though I wrote my last student loan payment (I still took some small loans) years before my colleagues who borrowed more heavily did, the constant dollar analysis I have read comparing the military route woth borrowing still favors the taking of loans rather than the service obligation.

The larger point is that payback was four years, not a career of lower income. So to answer the OP, I would take a lower income, but not for any longer a term than I already did.

“Not everyone makes the same sacrifices.” Say what? I sacrificed part of my 20s to chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. I lost friends, disrupted my career and don’t have a cent to show for it. My friends were out having fun and I was home on the couch, too tired and too immune-compromised to do much of anything.

Sound familiar? I thought so.

My honest advice to you is to try to stop comparing yourself to your friends. Don’t let envy and resentment start to eat up your soul.

There are always going to be people who appear to be better off than you are, whatever “better off” means. There are also millions of people who are paid far less, work at demanding, menial jobs and have far fewer prospects in life.

I know the delayed gratification is really hard, but you can’t afford to buy into the comparison game of what “everyone else” is doing. It’s a game you cannot win.

I guess I’m sounding preachy now. Oh well. Too late to delete my comment.

It is amazing how they get paid (note get paid, not just not pay tuition) and get to have free time on the weekends and at night. I am not saying I don’t expect to put in the normal 8-7 day that is typical of hard working people. I just get resentful when everyone else is getting paid for 8am-7pm extremely well and I am paying/not getting paid for my 4am-9pm.

These are just my observations. And I said earlier becuase of this I have grown distant from a lot of my friends because they have time that is actually free to go hang out with each other.

they seem to have forgotten those times. do you have any idea how much more painful those last 5 years are?

although i make more than primary care docs now, compound interest working against you with hundreds of thousands in principal sucks. vacations are severely limited. small flexibility in schedule. come in at night regularly. missed family events. it isn’t all beautiful for specialists.

these people proposing ideas to limit payment have no idea about malpractice expense or tail coverage. or the stress of running your own business. well they have a limited idea that can be gleaned from reading, but not experience from living the dream. all they see is $$$ being spent on healthcare and that $$$ are the group least likely to organize effectively to fight a cut.

But I couldn’t figure out how to say it without sounding preachy.

FWIW, I think the cost of medical school needs to be considerably less burdensome, but I don’t think it should come at the expense of future earnings.

Perhaps an argument can be made that most every American profession is “overpaid” when compared to European countries.

If all you want is money then you need to go into another career.