A media blitz has been going on to demonize Doctor salaries. It's obviously funded by the Healthcare-Pharma Complex, to deflect blame onto Doctors for high Healthcare costs. It is the worst kind of gaslighting against doctors, because the exact opposite situation is true. First, doctor pay is 6-9% of all Healthcare costs, so even if they worked for free, it would hardly put a dent in Healthcare spending. Second, many young doctors may not realize this, but Congress froze Medicare payments to doctors in 1997, and real salary adjusted for inflation decreased 80% since then! Medicare work-RVU payment- 2000: $36.69 2024: $33.29 Inflation since 2000: 70% Meanwhile, hospital payments and insurance premiums have OUTPACED INFLATION since 2000. That is where the problem lies. People will argue that doctors are paid more in the US, but so is every other profession- law, finance, tech, nursing, etc. Average nurse salary- USA: $82,750 Germany: $33,000 Also, the US has fewer doctors per capita than Europe, resulting in more office visits and procedures per doctor. And US doctors have on average $227,000 in debt compared to none in Europe. If you just invested that money in the S&P at it's historical return of 10.26% for 45 years, adjusting for inflation, you get $22.97 Million. That is the opportunity cost of becoming a doctor in America. Anyone blaming doctor pay, which is down 80% the past 25 years, for our high healthcare costs, needs to read this thread and face the facts.