[allcentury]

The limit of residency slots is in the article.

> A much more sensible system would to make medical school free so that the salaries don’t have to start off so high.

That's not how any labor market works. Your salary isn't determined by how much debt you rack up. Doctor's salary's are high because the supply of doctor's is so low (especially primary care).

The article covers all the points you're debating (much better than I).

[syki]

My response was about the claim that OP is a health economist while not understanding where the bottleneck in the supply for doctors comes from. I believe you are incorrect as it pertains to doctor salaries. Demand is high and supply relatively low. That is true but this isn’t the only factor that goes into determining pay. That’s an overly simplistic view of things. Supply/demand does not account for everything in this situation. If med students came out of med school with zero debt then the healthcare industry could make being a doctor sufficiently lucrative with salaries that are smaller than they currently are. Lowering the salary a bit in this scenario would not lower supply. You should read about David Carr’s work.

[vsskanth]

I don't agree the cost of university is driving the salaries here. It's all about how many doctors are available to meet demand. If there are less, it's going to drive up salaries. There are other countries where the cost of getting a degree in a certain specialty is very low due to state subsidies but the salaries are very high once they graduate since they are scarce.

[CogitoCogito]

I believe you have it backwards. The high salaries increase the levels of debt potential doctors consider acceptable.

[N1H1L]

> That's not how any labor market works. Your salary isn't determined by how much debt you rack up.

True, or else college dropouts from a private school will have higher incomes than a state school undergrad, which is not the case at all.

[lupire]

Primary care is a low paying job because nurses and PAs can provide primary care.