Obamacare has been debated back and forth. While it has both strengths and weaknesses, its biggest flaw would have to be with the cost of medical school deterring young doctors from choosing a family-care physician path for their career. There has been a recent decline in students choosing this path due to lower income (compared to a specialist).
Obamacare and Medical School Costs: The Problem
The trouble with Obamacare and medical school costs is how it opens the floodgates for more people to receive healthcare, which is good. The other side of things is that this requires more physicians to fill in the gap, which is why the country is experiencing a shortage of doctors. What Obamacare does not do is make it more affordable for medical students to take these much needed roles.
While the average salary of a family physician is slightly under 200,000 dollars (which is great), the average salary for specialists, such as neurosurgeons and cardiologists can be around 450,000-500,000 dollars. Medical students can easily find themselves in over 300,000 dollars in debt, so the incentive to take this career path just isn’t there, but Obamacare is definitely creating the need for it.
There are also a few other factors to take into consideration, beyond simple average salaries as well. That doctor that chose the care physician route must also go through residency for a number of years, which averages about 50,000 dollars. When they complete their residency program, they have to work a few more years in their field to make anything close to that 200,000 dollar figure as well.
Obamacare and Medical School Costs: Programs
What many people have been suggesting is creating the incentive by developing a better financial aid system for students choosing to take this path and some schools are already in the process of making this happen.
If you’re considering going into a family-care position and you’re still in school, you may want to look into any government funded programs that are aimed at reducing debt for these reasons.