Imagine you are a college freshman with excellent grades and a bright future ahead of you. You have the ability to choose the career path of your choice. You find yourself in the office of the college guidance counselor, having a conversation about one of the possible career choices you could pick. The conversation goes something like this:
Counselor: “I really want you to consider a career in medicine. I think with your intelligence and skills, you would make a great physician. This career would be an excellent choice.”
Student: “That sounds great. Do I need a graduate degree? I mean that’s a total of 7 years in college.”
Counselor: “Well, actually it’s a bit more than that. You will need your bachelor’s degree plus a graduate degree plus several more years of training. All in all, you will be spending 12 to 14 years getting your education.”
Student: “12 to 14 years. Wow, that is a lot of time! I will be in my mid 30s before I get out and start my career.”
Counselor: “You actually get started long before then. You will be doing some on the job training for the last half of the 14 years.”
Student: “That’s good. So at least I will be making a good living while I am learning.”
Counselor: “Well, not really. You are going to be working...and actually working crazy long hours but you won’t really get paid much for all of it since you are a student. To be honest, when you are done with all of this you will probably owe more than $200,000 in student loans.”
Student: “So when I get done with all of that at least I will be making great money and not killing myself working 60 hours a week any more, right?”
Counselor: “Well..not really. The money is ok but you will still be working long hours. Depending on what you do and how you specialize, you may have to work many nights and be on call a fair amount.”
Student: “This doesn’t sound very good. Can you tell me more about what life will be like in this career?”
Counselor: “Sure. Well, other than the long hours and being on call, you also get to look forward to a future of declining compensation, government red tape and bureaucracy, government audits and the possibility of having your whole industry taken over by the government sometime in the future.”
Student: “Are you kidding me? Why on earth would anyone devote 14 years to education, start working in your mid 30s, begin a career horribly in debt, only to face the kind of uncertain future that you just described?”
Counselor: “I don’t know. You are the fourth student today who has asked me that today.”
Student: “How about talking to me about a career on Wall Street or in politics....”
Now, I know that this description is done a bit tongue in cheek. I also know that many of the very best physicians go into medicine as a calling and a passion and not because it’s a great life or financial decision. That being said, please consider what will happen if we don’t address some of these issues. What are we going to do if we continue down this road and we can no longer attract our best and brightest students into the very demanding and important profession of medicine? What we could end up with is a scary thought; universal coverage for every American…and a shortage of physicians to provide care. Ask yourself: what does the future of health care look like if our best and brightest students decide to forego a career in medicine?
No comments:
Post a Comment