All the ones I know can hardly afford to make ends meet.

Cry me a river.

just like elementary and secondary teachers

and malpractice insurance, they probably don't make much at all for such a high-stress job. Hell, I know a broker who makes a MILLION DOLLARS with a high school education. 6-hour days. Puleeze, pal. We are now bagging on public servants and I consider doctors in that category, even if not subsidized by taxpayers.

unless they work for the VA hospital or in a city owned hospital or that sort of thing.

on the pace and content of what they do. And if you don't- get the fuck out.

Secondly, the average pay for an internist- which is what most primary care physicians are- is $187,000. Specialists tend to make considerably more. The average cost of malpractice insurance per year for an internist was, in 2009, $4,000. And of course, it's ridiculously inaccurate to claim that docs are public servants. Very few actually are.

As for your broker friend? so the fuck what does that have to do with anything? Why nothing.

You're just wrong on all counts.

Or just how he could maximize the amount of money he gets from his patients?

You can't compare empathy, sympathy, or patient care with patient profit. We all learned that in grade school. And Profit always came first, then the other silly stuff.

so, while I find the attitude despicable, there is partly a reason for that attitude.

and have plenty left over.

these days, which is why a lot of young doctors want a reform on not just the medical system, but the loan system, a young specialist ends with a quarter of a million in debt, before even starting a professional life.

So it is really generational.

My brother is a doctor, he started his professional life with zero debt (but did not train in the US, that is part of the reason)... his daughter, they are helping her, will have less than average debt... her class mates they are looking at 250,000 before they start a practice (she wants to be a specialist), even a GP starts with very high debts. And this is projected as of right now. by the time she finishes, with current education inflation, you are talking half a million. No way on this god's green earth that the average doctor will completely pay that off.

Medicine is no longer the "get rich scheme" some people believe it is. And to be top in your field, like my brother, he works an average of 100 hours a week, oh and he is NOT in private practice either. He is in what is now becoming the norm, which is work for a hospital, or hospital group, which pays a lot less than private practice on average.

So doctors always seem to... in not precisely accurate, and you really need to look at the generation you are looking for. I fear my brothers generation, nearing retirement, (who are resistant to any change and hate, I tell you, socialized medicine and run the AMA), will be the last ones to have those levels of income. Which is one of the reasons they hate single payor... younger doctors, attitudes are changing, but so are potential incomes due to increasing high levels of debt.

I know, nuanced response.

Little known clause. If all else fails, take your education and specialize in $300 5 minute Botox treatments.

"Medicare will pay doctors so little they will refuse to see older patients" (part of the $716B lie)
Since the majority of patients waiting to see the doctor in most practices are over 65, I don't see this happening anytime soon.

When your employer cuts costs, it's bad.

The options are cutting wages or making working conditions bad--less safety protection, less job security, speed ups.

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander? Apparently not. We have goose-specific and gander-specific sauces these days.

I've run into a fair number of doctors not accepting new Medicaid patients or even new Medicare patients. Those that haven't give each patient less face time. I've gone in to see my GP and a nurse or student takes my case history. The doctor then glances at it in the hall, tells me what I said my complaint was, checks to see if it's reasonable and then goes out. A nurse comes in and tells me what tests have been ordered.

Until fairly recently I saw a couple of specialists. One had an fellow take my case history and come up with a recommendation. My "appointment" with the specialist consisted mostly of the specialist quizzing the fellow and helping him. Then the specialist would leave and deal with somebody else being handled by a different fellow or by a med student.

Another didn't have students or fellows. They expanded her caseload but not her duty day. She'd look over what the nurse wrote down and come in. She'd check me over, look at test results, and then say what she thought was up. The rest of my visit time she spent recording her notes for a transcriptionist. She didn't want to take time after her duty day was over for paperwork, so my appointment was both for her to examine and treat me and also do any paperwork associated with me.

I love my primary care physician. She's kind of intense but she cares passionately about her patients. She's all for single payer. She spends time with her patients, and I hate the waits in the office. She follows up by phone even though she's crazy busy. I've gotten into some arguments with her over the years, but generally she's pretty open minded.

there is plenty of money to be made seeing medicare patients. Reimbursement rates are low (not the lowest), but you get much more frequent visits from the patients. My wife, also an independent GP, is trying to have a 30% medicare population... hell... she's actively recruiting new medicare patients!

Now, if they reduce the medicare payment by 30%, like they've been talking about, then she'll stop taking on medicare patients and slowly reduce the medicare population.

I think you need to find another doctor.