With respect to physicians in Canada they note:
But young doctors face the same squeeze as young lawyers. Like law school, medical school is so competitive that today’s students need advanced training and graduate degrees in order to get in. By the time they qualify as doctors, they’re well into their 30s, with $180,000 in debt.
And the expectations of medical students are also disconnected from reality. The trouble is that doctors have just one big client – government – whose ability and willingness to pay is shrinking fast. The booming consumer demand for medicine doesn’t necessarily translate into jobs. Even though hospitals need extra surgeons, they aren’t hiring them because they can’t afford to expand operating-room time.
Of all the general surgeons who finished medical school at the University of Toronto in the past two years, only 15 per cent have found work. The rest are pursuing further training, in hopes that something will eventually open up.Things aren't quite this bad in the US. But as government directly or indirectly imposes further restrictions on how doctors can practice and what they can get paid, we'll see more bright young people decide not to become physicians.
As a current benchmark, Huffington Post reports that already, "Nearly Half Of Doctors Regret Going Into Medicine: Survey".
And if we keep discouraging the best young minds from becoming doctors, who will take care of you when you get sick in 10 years?
