Now with surgery? Again there’s some capitalism but also surgery is hard. Extremely hard. Here’s a link to a common surgery for orthopedics for example. They have to memorize these procedure steps and be very quick. Time on the table for the patient matters for money and for anesthesia (more dangerous for longer GA cases).
Anyways you can be mad about moats and artificial supply constraints for things like dermatology but for surgery and family practice? Not really.
Another factor is geography. Can you imagine doing 12-14 years of school and low paid training, have 250-500k in debt and then move out to a rural area to practice? Many doctors don’t want to do that, so the ones that do are paid well but are usually extremely busy.
Anyways, there’s just a lot of factors that limit supply, it’s not the nefarious doctors union trying to squeeze every last drop.
I don't think there is any country in the world where doctors work for 40 hours, regardless of the economic model.
The world of human disease places some limitations on what can be done. Many people either do not have the grit or the stomach to become doctors (I could easily learn the theory, but I couldn't cope with all the blood, pus, vomit and frequent feeling of helplessness). People develop critical problems at 2 am. A doctor should know their patients and vice versa; they aren't fungible and ping-ponging a sick person between shifts tends to worsen the outcomes.
That plus just having to deal with all of those different personalities. Sick people can be incredibly difficult to deal with. I was in the hospital for an extended period a few years ago. The nurse said she and her colleagues liked treating me. I asked why. She said “because you’re normal.”
They apply, but that does not necessarily mean that they would be able to finish the training. Being a doctor is prestigious and unsuitable candidates might be drawn to the golden haze.
You really have to memorize when you have a checklist the nurse could read off so you don't miss a step? I wouldn't trust my memory to hold a single step of that checklist, I'd refer to it every time.
In "the checklist manifesto" the author suggests one of the main benefits of checklists for medical procedures is that nurses or other lower ranked people in the room who know the doctor is about to kill someone or cut off the wrong leg by mistake can communicate this information without the Doctor ruining their career for making them look stupid.
https://www.benwhite.com/medicine/the-private-equity-model-i...
Now with surgery? Again there’s some capitalism but also surgery is hard. Extremely hard. Here’s a link to a common surgery for orthopedics for example. They have to memorize these procedure steps and be very quick. Time on the table for the patient matters for money and for anesthesia (more dangerous for longer GA cases).
https://www.orthobullets.com/knee-and-sports/12234/acl-recon...
Anyways you can be mad about moats and artificial supply constraints for things like dermatology but for surgery and family practice? Not really.
Another factor is geography. Can you imagine doing 12-14 years of school and low paid training, have 250-500k in debt and then move out to a rural area to practice? Many doctors don’t want to do that, so the ones that do are paid well but are usually extremely busy.
Anyways, there’s just a lot of factors that limit supply, it’s not the nefarious doctors union trying to squeeze every last drop.