Where Do You Think the Shortages Are?
Most of the medical specialties with the lowest starting pay in 2008 were in primary care, including: pediatrics ($132,500), family practice, geriatrics, urgent care and internal medicine ($165,000). By contrast, specialties such as neurology ($200,000 to $230,000), non-invasive cardiology ($350,000 to $400,000), anesthesiology ($275,000 to $312,500) and neurological surgery ($605,000) were from two to four times as much.
Is this a trick question? I would guess the shortages are where we pay the least.
And this isn’t a new trend. Everyone knows that primary care physicians provide the largest range of care but are paid the least. The question is why hasn’t the government done anything to compensate these general care doctors so that the numbers won’t continue to decrease.