(02-13-2020, 03:35 PM)JagNGeorgia Wrote:

(02-13-2020, 12:38 PM)mikesez Wrote: I mean the teaching hospitals should take on more residents, fresh out of med school.  I'm under the impression that teaching hospitals hire residents directly. Whoever hires them, should be incentivized to hire more.  
More residents become more licensed doctors.
More licensed doctors means more supply. 
More supply for the same demand means lower unit cost

The costs of doctors isn’t the problem with medical costs. It’s the testing, exams, equipment, and medicines that cost so much. We don’t have a doctor shortage problem. The problem is doctors feel obligated to subject everyone to a barrage of testing so that they’re not sued. 

Lowering the standard for qualified doctors doesn’t mean there’s more supply.  There is no way to increase the supply of doctors without lowering the quality of doctor. People would still seek out the better doctor when the bad one can’t fix it.

I knew a guy who was very high up in Florida hospital, which had like 25 locations. He told me that in spite of the fact that they were encouraging their doctors to form independent organizations that would bill patients and insurance directly, the hospital's expenses were still mostly doctors' salaries and nurses' salaries. He said the mortgage, utilities, consumables, and equipment financing were a much smaller portion.

What is really unfair about this is, although all doctors and many nurses get a very generous hourly wage, most of them work more hours than they would like. The shortages are hurting their quality of life too, they just can't see it.

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