I was listening to news radio the other morning on my drive into work. There was a big discussion about doctors in our county. The focus switched back and forth between their salary and debt as well as the influx of out of country doctors charging less. Since my head is normally found within the financial boundaries of cash advances and credit card debt, it was interesting to learn that U.S. doctors are not as well off as we are made to believe. As with any topic, the “one size fits all” notion fits in this category as well, and I better understand why.
A cash advance won’t repay student loans.
Ahhhh, those student loans. We tend to think about them being a burden of debt towards the general public and forget that to become a doctor; we are looking at at least 11 years of schooling and residency. If the doctor wants to specialize in a certain field, there may be an additional year or two added onto it. This is up to 13 years of hard work. Student loans often cover the 7-8 years of schooling, much longer than a typical person’s student loan debt. The medical schools’ tuition costs fall into the higher range and the total debt averages about half a million dollars. Once they leave school and begin their residency, their $50,000 – $60,000 salaries barely cover cost of living expenses. Most young doctors will defer the first few years of payments until they begin their own practice or see their salary jump. These young professionals won’t be heading into the realm of cash advances to help with costs, their monthly student loan payments are typically more than $1500. While we are on the subject, the short-term loans should not be used to cover any type of debt.
Now back to the news radio story. It seems that doctors are coming from abroad debt free. Many other countries pay for young people to go into the medical field. These doctors come here and start up a business charging less as their overhead is significantly so; hence the clash in comparing medical costs from one doctor to another. Now we can’t use the “one size fits all” with this comparison either, but it is food for thought when you hear people complaining about the medical costs for American doctors.
For those of us who have to pay out of pocket when we see a doctor, whether it be the co-pay or full price, we know how it feels to feel the budget pinch of extra monthly payments. Credit cards are often used to cover these charges and at times, a cash advance may be used when there is no credit left on a card. After learning something about a doctor’s finances and how much of their big salaries goes towards their own debt and I think about how many hours they put into their profession in order to service their patience. I stop and think about the doctor’s I have had in my life. How my child’s doctor would answer her own number when I was in distress over my child’s health. How she promised to come to my house knowing I could not afford a trip to the emergency room. I pay her the money happily, knowing not practices medicine with both her brain and heart. I no longer judge her prices in comparison to others, but pay her knowing she is a person with her own debt problems willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to help my sick child.
