IT'S TIME FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

Doctors in France earn about a third of what their counterparts in the U.S. do, on average.

Thanks. That was a convincing answer.

MD salaries in USA


On the other hand, French doctors paid as much as up $1,000 (one thousand) per year as univeristy fees. That should be added as well.

So, French doctors make 50k / year?

The per capita income for France is $31,100. (Doctors earn 60% over the average income in France.)

In the US, the lowest is family practice at $111,113, and at the top end are cardiovascular surgeons at $558,719. I don't where where the "average" income for doctors is in the US. Average per capita income in the US is $44,000.

The lowest sum I found (for 2001, for family doctors) was 58,000 Euros, which is more than $78,000.

Excluded is any money they earnt from private patients/patients with private insurance.

Are illegal residents of Germany covered by the national health insurance?
(I assume guest workers are covered through the employer/employee paid insurance programs.)

The question is meaningful in any comparison applicable to the U.S. in that a very large fraction of the "uninsured", so loudly touted by advocates of government controlled health programs, are illegal residents.

While some here may regard this as an unfair distortion of the question, I do believe that the issues of border and immigration control, systems of reliable registrations of the identity of residents, and government-managed (or regulated) health care are all profoundly coupled. The problem for us is that these things fly in the face of long held American traditions of individual freedom and privacy, and relatively open immigration. Our relatively unregulated and more economically competitive society is an adaptation that renders us better able to assimilate large numbers of immigrants. The proposed "remedies" for public health care and other generally related matters will add to the difficulty of assimilating immigrants who continue to arrive in large numbers. Will we merely substitute one problem for another? The example of the disaffected minorities in France and the UK should give us all some cause for serious reflection.

I also read that they don't have to pay the French Social Security tax, which is 40% in that country, and like you pointed out, no student loans.

Also, from what I've been able to find online, the cost of living is about 17% cheaper than in the US as well (comparing New York to Paris)

Source (with more tables/data)

Why are German doctors so poorly paid relative to the other countries on the list? The quotes salaries of German hospital doctors are less than ours by factors between four and five.

Because they get paid a realistic amount, whereas ours have grossly inflated salaries?

Cycloptichorn

Hospital doctors aren't very high paid, as in 'basic salary'.

Though - due to personal knwledge of a couple of incomes - I somehow doubt these figures. At least, as the sum, they actually get.

The average income of physicans at hospitals in their first year in Germany was (2004) 44,000 Euros (= $60,000).
13% earnt in their first year more than 66,000 Euros (= $90,000).


According to the German Association of Hospitals, hopsital doctors earnt (basic salary[1st sum]/including extra time, surveys etc, but without private patients [2nd sum]; figures for 2004)

- junior doctor (first year), 31 years old: 44,000 Euros ($60,000), totally 55,000 Euros ($75,000);
- senior doctor (specialist), 38 years, married, two children: 56,600 Euros ($77,000), 73,000 Euros ($100,000) totally;
- assistant deputy head of department, 45 years old, married, two children: 68,000 Euros ($92,500), 92,000 Euros ($125,000) in total;
- head of a department, 50 years old, married two children: 76,000 Euros ($103,500), 250,000 Euros ($340,000) in total.


Source: Das Krankenhaus [The hospital], 12/2005, pages 1075 - 1078.

I think my nephew as a first year resident earned about $111,000. He's now a cancer specialist, so I'm not sure what his salary is. My niece is a neurologist, but teaches at university and also has a private practice in Texas. I don't know what her income is.

I suspect that the comparative data Walter provided may ignore other factors such as other sources of income and, as well, an odd mixture of junior resident physicians and more senior physicians (who, at least here, earn a good deal more).

Physicians' salaries are in fact a relatively small component of the cost of health care. Administration, support staff, and (in the U.S.) liability insurance for tort/malpractice cases are each as great or greater than the costs of the doctor alone.

In the US, the average salary for a PCP ( internist ) is about $150,000/year.

For an anaesthiologist ( MD) the average salary in the US is $370,000.

For a neurosurgeon in the US, the average salary in the US is $500,000+

For retail chain store pharmacy, the starting salary for a fresh graduate is
now well above $100,000.

For a certified nurse anesthetist ( RN ) the average salary in the US is $150,000+

Orthopedic surgeons have an average salary in the US of at least $400,000 and a malpractice premium of about $50,000 ( all depending on the State in which the MD practices ).

That's good for American MDs. Maybe it helps to explain why health care is so expensive in the United States. Yearly health expenditures per capita in the US seem to be as high as (depending on the study) $6,000 to $7,000.

Here's a comparison with some other countries:

old europe, I believe I have seen health care costs for the US at over $7,000.

Yes, I've seen different numbers, too. Here's a link to the Department of Health and Human Services Center for Medicare and Medicaid Expenditures, National Health Expenditures Projections 2006-2016:

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/proj2006.pdf

There's a table on per capita health expenditures, including projections until 2016:

Indeed, those salries don't eveb exist in the union's best dreams.

(Hospital doctors got roughly 15% more after strikes last year.)