Debt

"Experts agree that there is substantial waste in the US health care system. This waste drives up costs, threatens the government's long-term fiscal stability, suppresses incomes, and reduces resources for public education and other essential services. Similarly, there is substantial waste in the education and training of US physicians."

"Two key data points in the discussion of medical student education debt are the percentage of graduates with debt (86% in 2010) and the average education debt of an indebted graduate (nearly $158,000 in 2010)."

"As of June last year, Americans now owe more in student debt than they do in credit card debt. Student borrowers are winning the dangerous debt race as both amounts hurtle toward the $1 trillion marker, student debt rose by over 500% since 1999."

"Recently, I listened to a Sound Medicine broadcast where the discussion was a plan for making primary care more attractive to medical students by eliminating medical school tuition.  There was a similar article in the New York Times appearing on May 29^th where Drs. Bach and Kocher lay out a plan for making primary care more attractive."

"Institute free medical school tuition to increase the number of primary care physicians and decrease the costs of health care; and do it now as it takes time to qualify, apply, and train new doctors. This is the message of the May 29, 2011 New York Times article in the Sunday Opinion section written by two reputable physicians, Drs. P. Bach and R. Kocher, both with laudable credentials in health care reform and politics. Their simplistic solution and hypothesis, however noble, is confusing."

"For almost three generations, debt has been a nearly inescapable part of becoming a doctor. Over 80 percent of each medical student class will graduate in debt; and while that percentage has remained unchanged for 25 years, the increase in the total amount owed has leapfrogged over all other economic reality checks, like inflation and the consumer price index."