However, after 4 years undergrad, 4 years med school, and 4 years of residency it's time to live, no? What's the point of it all if you don't actually make enough to live a little until you are 40? A way better system would be to just provide for higher education and not burden people with debt. Instead a large salary is needed to pay the large debt but the large salary is permanent and the debt is not. Save a lot more money buy just properly funding higher education.
The downside of govt just paying for it is you'll get a lot more people who really aren't committed to the profession and it taxes everyone else - it's not free, it's done through higher taxes on everyone else.
The difference is that most students make nowhere near that much money as doctors do.
The comment that they reply with is "when am I going to enjoy my life"
This results in large portion of students being highly levered and betting that salaries will steadily increase in the future.
This will not end well.
When she pays off her debt her salary won't go down. People expect to make more in successive years. Hence large salaries are going to be normative unless there is drastic change in the system. It would be much better for the country, and for my wife, if her debt were wiped out and she made a lot less money. We'd be happy for that.
Whatever system is going to be in place will require some form of rationing. Prior to Obamacare that rationing was done on the basis of money, and whether or not a person was lucky enough to have a job that had health benefits. Obamacare is an attempt at free market forces whilst providing care for most people. It's somewhat better now than in the past but not ideal. I think universal, government funded healthcare is the most moral and economical option.