Doctors don't make enough

Here I am sitting in medical school for 8 hours a day and then studying for at the very least 2 hours a day and at least 4 hours on saturdays. So that adds up to at the very minimum 54 hours a week. This is estimating very low and usually, especially during the week before and the week of finals, that is extended to 14 hours a day of studying. Now I put in all this time while paying approximately $80,000 a year to do this. Notice that is not making that much, I am paying that much to do this. Not only am I paying this much but because of the hours I have to put in just to keep up with the load I cannot work and I must take out loans to pay for it all. Just tack on about another $30,000 a year for living expenses. So to go to medical school that is $110,000 a year. Take that by 4 years and you can do the math. Now tack on interest for 4 years and you can see how much money I am going to have to pay back. I am not complaining just letting you know how much this is costing. I love going to medical school and I wouldnt want to be anywhere else.
After I graduate and after at least 4 years of a residency I might begin to actually make a decent income. I will not be in the black for at least 4-5 years after that because I have to use all the money my patients pay me to pay back my loans and for my malpractice insurance which is absolutely outrageous because of all the ambulance chasing sharks out there. After paying all of that I have to hire someone to send out bills to the insurance company with just the right codes and procedure so that I can get paid from them about 4 weeks later.
I am now 27 years old, I own one vehicle with 120,000 miles on it, I live in a apartment and I have never lived in my own house. I take a lunch everyday to school only to stand in line to use the microwave to heat up yesterdays left overs.
Now during the 3rd and 4th years of medical school and during the residency years a 70 hour work week is a vacation.
I dont want people to get the wrong idea here. I am not complaining about my current state of affairs. I love being in medical school. Learning to be a doctor has been a dream of mine my whole life. I am living a dream.
The thing that royally pisses me off is the taxes I am going to get nailed with once I start making money. Because the government has decided that I make too much money they come and rob me of approximately 50% of my income. I get dinged 50% because I have spent 4 years in school making no money learning how to give people in this country a higher quality of life! When the president gets shot or someone in congress has a heart attack they go to the hospital to be treated by someone like me. What is the thanks? BAM 50% please. They expect us to give away our services for free. WHY? What other profession is expected to to do this?
Did you know that there is better imaging and better technology out there but most hospitals or doctors offices will not bring them in because the government (medicare and medicaid) will not pay for these higher quality images. As a patient I want these better images. It avoids unnecessary procedures therefore actually saving money.
When a loved one has a heart attack do you go to the hospital and ask how much they are charging you to save your loved one? Why then do we complain when we get the bill?
Doctors fill an important part of this countries well being, however with the train we are on right now and all the malpractice suits and all the political B.S. doctors are losing out big time and more and more of us are going into specialties so that we can afford to pay off all of this debt. That is why there are no family practice physicians anymore. Here in Nevada they cannot keep physicians in the state because of the high amount of suing that is going on. There are some safeguards for physicians in place, but the current democratic ruled senate here are trying to undo those. No doubt sometimes physicians do make a very dumb mistake and consequences must happen. However, when a OB/GYN must carry malpractice insurance on every kid he delivered for 18 years that is ridiculous!!
Just one more thing. Here in the great US of A anyone can be a physician. Anyone can make the sacrifice to go to medical school. The doctor with the nice house on the hill can be you for only about 8 years of your life and $400,000. So go do it because Doctors make so much money and are so lucky!!
Student Doctor Doug.