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The number of people graduating from U.S. medical schools in 1985 was just over 16,000.

The number of people graduating from U.S. medical schools in 2009 was just over 16,000.

It must be because health costs and doctor salaries are falling. Or it must be that we are making up for the shortage by allowing highly-skilled foreign trained doctors in. NOT.

3 Responses to “Fun Facts to Know and Tell: Medical Cartel Edition”

  1. Harry says:

    Is Wintercow saying that the capacity of our many medical schools is controlled by a mutual agreement?

  2. Harry says:

    The problem is indeed puzzling. One figure I would like to see is qualified candidates rejected at all US medical schools, some of who may have been accepted at foreign schools. The other would be to find out what “qualified” means. I just cannot believe that our medical schools could not accomodate another thousand students if the demand were there. Surely places like Harvard, with vast financial resources, would make space at the margin.

    There would be little risk in bringing in marginally competent people, and by saying that, I mean no disrespect — only that there are many potentially able doctors who will not get the skill to do this or that. Not every doctor will have the hands or the eyes or the nerve to be a brain surgeon.

    In the AAMC site they touched on the difficulties of hiring faculty, but I do not understand why medical schools have this problem and Merck and J&J seem to be able to staff their labs at will.

  3. Ian Random says:

    Actually, they do come here. My coworkers brother in law, was a big doctor in the Philippines, but could not practice here without serving an unpaid residency. He found a loophole, you can be a medical bureaucrat without a license.

    Physician schools don’t make money like lawyering schools do. Labs cost money, lectures don’t and turn a profit. My local community college had to have that pointed out to them. Educrats are pretty dumb in that regard. Anyway, I heard one new medical school has opened recently. Too lazy to google it.

    Lastly, a physician needs 4-6 years of residency. That is usually paid for by Medicare at $40k/yr for a 80+ hour work week and has been capped at 100,000 slots for the last couple of years.

    If you want to go after a cartel, I hear that the cardiology profession has fought guidelines for years. Those $100k plumbing fixes might have something to do with it. My wife was reading an article in a science mag that said bypasses maybe pointless.

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