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How dermatology became the 'it' job in medicine

(www.wsj.com)
47 points bookofjoe | 4 comments | 18 Nov 24 12:56 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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amluto ◴[18 Nov 24 13:53 UTC] No.42172284[source]▶
> Recently, her hospital’s dermatology program received more than 600 applications for four residency slots.

Perhaps if supply of dermatologists was not so strongly limited, prices and wait times would improve.

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wyldfire ◴[18 Nov 24 13:59 UTC] No.42172320[source]▶
I doubt that limit is an artificial one. Hospitals don't need 600 dermatologists on staff. I think this is yet another factor of capitalism: selfish interests of individual corporations being in tension with the people's interests of having affordable healthcare. Other developed countries seem to have said "yeah, we recognize that nationalizing healthcare will result in insurance companies and hospitals making less money. But that's what has to happen for the people to be able to get the care they need."

Every time it comes up in the US, nationalized healthcare is demonized in some media. But it just feels like a facade perpetrated by the hospitals and insurance companies (and now private equity) who stand to lose the most. If it's good enough for veterans and retirees, why can't it be good enough for the rest of us? Maybe it's because when the government pays the bill, they don't just roll over and accept $EXORBITANT_FEE after $EXORBITANT_FEE - they negotiate and get some reasonable value.

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Cumpiler69 ◴[18 Nov 24 14:02 UTC] No.42172331[source]▶
>Other developed countries seem to have said

The other developed countries doing this don't pay dermatologists 500k though.

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Shatnerz ◴[18 Nov 24 14:06 UTC] No.42172361[source]▶
Perhaps this is because supply isn't being artificially restricted?
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1. Cumpiler69 ◴[18 Nov 24 14:09 UTC] No.42172391[source]▶
Doctors' profession have artificial barriers to entry and keep the supply limited, in many other countries, but even with those, they won't dream to earn anywhere near 500k.
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2. quantumwoke ◴[18 Nov 24 14:13 UTC] No.42172422[source]▶
This is not true, and you should look at private practice in Canada, Australia, and to a lesser extent U.K.
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3. Cumpiler69 ◴[18 Nov 24 14:16 UTC] No.42172449[source]▶
It's 100% true where I'm from in Europe. The government opens up only a fixed number of residencies positions every year regardless of how many more students graduate (cartel behavior from the national Doctors' association).

My cousin graduated med-school last year and is still unemployed because no hospital had a place for her. Private practices don't fix that issue since they're not designed to be part of the medical teaching cycle. So a lot of young doctors have to emigrate to other EU countries where they can find spots to practice.

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4. quantumwoke ◴[18 Nov 24 15:59 UTC] No.42173614{3}[source]▶
This is orthogonal to your GP point which was about salary. There are a lot of issues with the teaching pipeline AFAIUI so it is difficult to comment on n=1 examples.