I much prefer free medical school (or loan forgiveness) to anyone who will go into primary care in an area of need: rural, urban, indigenous and agree to spend 5 years there. The barrier is not the cost of medical school (there is plenty of loan and scholarship available) it is finding and feeding the pipeline with scientifically gifted students of all backgrounds.
And what about the disproportionately high number of women medical students? Despite the public attention to “women’s health care”, men consistently have worse health outcomes than women. “According to the existing, extensive scientific evidence in the literature, men on average are living sicker and dying younger at a higher rate compared to women.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35701992/ If the disparities were adverse to women, does anyone question that the first solution would be more women doctors? Yet not only does academia and the media not give any attention to the drastic decrease in men attending medical school, they lionize the “progress” of women in medicine ignoring that it is now disproportionately high for women (and yet primary care continues to decline).
"Of course, it is rational to take the free education and do ortho anyway". I am still laughing after reading that wisecrack (I'm a retired surgeon, not an orthopod). In fact, I was laughing so hard that I fell out of my chair and now am in an ER here in town with a broken elbow, awaiting a consult from some [wait for it...] orthopedic surgeon who has been called away from his tennis match at a swanky country club here.
My comment would be that the money would be way better spent starting a new medical school, as that would increase the number of doctors. That would likely lower the cost of medical care. Supply demand is real !
Agree that there should be stipulations, much like military education, that 5 years of primary care in underserved areas be required for tuition waiver
A way to improve all college education is for the government to create incentives for colleges to reduce the percentage of their budget that goes to pencil pushing administrators. One way would be to subsidize loans for students who go to schools that have lower administrative burdens. As Glenn Loury said to Bill Maher, many administrators spend their time in meetings so that they can write memos based on those meetings.
Lowly internist here-philanthropic folks can make their own choices how to donate their $$$ and med students have a variety of motives for their residency choice and not my business. I also think IM and surgical specialists and sub specialists should not crab about the lack of pcps but they have been doing it forever. stfu.
I took full loans for college and med school = 8 years.
I put my loans on forbearance during residency =5 years.
It took me 6 years as an attending to make monthly payments (typically above the monthly balance) AND I sold my home in 2022 in order to pay off all my loans. From what I calculated looking at my closed accounts, over 742,000$ has been paid for tuition with interest (19 years in the making). And now I have no home and no equity, but no debts. I did not take any break in making payments during covid.
So yea, if we can help the next generation of physicians not reach this level of debt, I'm all for it. Its never just the 4 years. its the 4 years + training + horrible interest rates that will delay you from moving forward with your life (buying a home, starting a family, opening a medical office, taking a big trip you deserve). Many of my foreign grad classmates had no med school debt and were banking as soon as they graduated res/fellowhship, I wish I had that kind of headstart.
I much prefer free medical school (or loan forgiveness) to anyone who will go into primary care in an area of need: rural, urban, indigenous and agree to spend 5 years there. The barrier is not the cost of medical school (there is plenty of loan and scholarship available) it is finding and feeding the pipeline with scientifically gifted students of all backgrounds.
And what about the disproportionately high number of women medical students? Despite the public attention to “women’s health care”, men consistently have worse health outcomes than women. “According to the existing, extensive scientific evidence in the literature, men on average are living sicker and dying younger at a higher rate compared to women.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35701992/ If the disparities were adverse to women, does anyone question that the first solution would be more women doctors? Yet not only does academia and the media not give any attention to the drastic decrease in men attending medical school, they lionize the “progress” of women in medicine ignoring that it is now disproportionately high for women (and yet primary care continues to decline).
"Of course, it is rational to take the free education and do ortho anyway". I am still laughing after reading that wisecrack (I'm a retired surgeon, not an orthopod). In fact, I was laughing so hard that I fell out of my chair and now am in an ER here in town with a broken elbow, awaiting a consult from some [wait for it...] orthopedic surgeon who has been called away from his tennis match at a swanky country club here.
My comment would be that the money would be way better spent starting a new medical school, as that would increase the number of doctors. That would likely lower the cost of medical care. Supply demand is real !
Agree that there should be stipulations, much like military education, that 5 years of primary care in underserved areas be required for tuition waiver
A way to improve all college education is for the government to create incentives for colleges to reduce the percentage of their budget that goes to pencil pushing administrators. One way would be to subsidize loans for students who go to schools that have lower administrative burdens. As Glenn Loury said to Bill Maher, many administrators spend their time in meetings so that they can write memos based on those meetings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGP1O38ynns
Lowly internist here-philanthropic folks can make their own choices how to donate their $$$ and med students have a variety of motives for their residency choice and not my business. I also think IM and surgical specialists and sub specialists should not crab about the lack of pcps but they have been doing it forever. stfu.
Our government is fabulous for lobbying for tax breaks for millionaires. Looks like med school is following suit, eh?
I took full loans for college and med school = 8 years.
I put my loans on forbearance during residency =5 years.
It took me 6 years as an attending to make monthly payments (typically above the monthly balance) AND I sold my home in 2022 in order to pay off all my loans. From what I calculated looking at my closed accounts, over 742,000$ has been paid for tuition with interest (19 years in the making). And now I have no home and no equity, but no debts. I did not take any break in making payments during covid.
So yea, if we can help the next generation of physicians not reach this level of debt, I'm all for it. Its never just the 4 years. its the 4 years + training + horrible interest rates that will delay you from moving forward with your life (buying a home, starting a family, opening a medical office, taking a big trip you deserve). Many of my foreign grad classmates had no med school debt and were banking as soon as they graduated res/fellowhship, I wish I had that kind of headstart.
Thank you for pointing out the obvious which somehow escaped me in my applaud of altruism.