Comment by nradov
6 hours ago
Feel free to moralize all you like about the maximum wages other people should earn if that makes you feel better but that won't solve any of the actual problems. In the real world, most people respond to economic incentives. Shortages can always get worse. (I am not a physician.)
> In the real world, most people respond to economic incentives.
Then why is there a shortage? Are you telling me the $750,000 yearly compensation still isn't enough?
Are you telling me that $750K yearly compensation still isn't enough for an NBA player? Maybe they should be nice and agree to play for less because they love the game and want to entertain people.
If we're talking about orthopedic surgeons specifically, a good one is essentially an elite athlete. A single tiny error can leave a patient dead or crippled. It takes a rare combination of intelligence, ability to focus for hours, physical strength, and fine motor control. So only a minuscule fraction of people even have the necessary potential. And the training pipeline is necessarily long because they need a lot of reps to build up the mental and physical skills, and to weed out those who aren't suited. Sure, you can find some people who are willing to do the work for lower wages but will they be the right people?
Beyond the wage issue, supply for all physicians is artificially constrained by training system capacity limits, as I already explained above. There are things that could be done to make training a bit cheaper and maybe two years shorter. But the easiest win would be to make more efficient use of the existing supply by optimizing workflows, and automating or eliminating administrative tasks.