Precisely. This is extremely evident in my family- my sister and her husband are incurring insane debt and he won't be finished with school until he's 30... As opposed to me, who's younger than he is, have been out of school for years, and currently make just as much as he hopes to make in five years. The system is not optimized for medical professionals, it's optimized for (it may sound dramatic, but it's the only word that fits) the cartels pulling the strings. And what happens if my brother passes away before graduating? Hunndreds of thousands of dollars of debt will remain. No, doctors are definitely not the prime villains.

It's been awhile since I've seen numbers. But I think but actual doctor compensation especially minus student loan principal and interest isn't that big a piece of the pie. Sr Doctors often make what seems like an assload of money, but doctors careers are short and the high earning period is a fraction of that.

Consider, doctors start working at 30, usually retire at 65. That's 25 years. First 10 years is spent paying off student loans and gaining clinical experience. Friend of mine is a Sr software engineer with a masters and 20 years of experience. His slightly younger brother is a newly minted Cardiac Surgeon.

It's actually 35 years. But still.

Doctor's are the "least optimized" group on that list but hardly suffering. They are indirectly the recipients of the medical system wealth. Doctors in other countries don't make anywhere as much. Getting screwed out of most of the pie doesn't mean you're lacking a slice. I'm from a family of doctors (not one myself) and even with medical school debt they are living very comfortably.

I would agree. The doctors I know do very well and the surgeons or radiologists usually are multimillionaires. Maybe their schooling is tough but the payoff is huge and it’s a stable career.