Oct. 25, 2017
Student Debt Shapes the Future of Medicine
The thought of amassing a
half-million dollars in medical school debt, in some cases, is steering some of
the best and brightest aspiring physicians to choose certain specialties over
others, altering their life plans, or discouraging them from going into
medicine altogether. An
October Texas
Medicine magazine
article
covering the cost of medical education reports staggering student debt is
shaping how new physicians approach medicine.
Nicole Hernandez, DDS, MD, an oral
and maxillofacial surgery resident at UT Health San Antonio, said she will have
to start paying back her $450,000 in student loans in 2020. Assuming everything
goes according to plan, she plans to pay them off within eight to 10 years. However,
it is not uncommon for physicians to pay off their medical school debts decades
after they began practicing medicine.
Michael Metzner, MD, a second-year
general surgery resident at the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long University of Texas School
of Medicine in San Antonio,
said his medical school tried to brace him for the financial impact of his
school loans before graduation. “In med school,
it’s very easy to think of it as Monopoly money,” Dr. Metzner said. “You see
these huge figures, and it’s, like, ‘I’m already $100,000 in debt, and my
medical school tuition’s $40,000 [a year].’ It's easy to say, ‘Sign the dotted
line.’ But I don’t think it’s until you’re out there working that you realize
what that means.”
The “Monopoly money”
reference is common among medical students. Christina Thorngren, MD, a third-year
emergency medicine resident at the
Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of
Texas, used the term in
discussing her $485,000 in medical school debt from the out-of-state
private school she attended. While she has no regrets about her career choice,
she knows people who shied away from medicine over the price tag. She suspects a potentially huge debt load affects
whether talented students will consider medicine as a career. “I’ve known people who thought about going into
medicine and who would’ve been really good doctors, who chose not to go into it
and chose to do something else…because they were afraid of the debt,” she said.
Texas Medicine cites a study
by the Association of American Medical Colleges, showing
three-quarters (76 percent) of all medical school, graduates have education
debt averaging $190,000 per person. That is up from an inflation-adjusted
$125,372 in 2000. As a result, medical school debt hangs over every aspect of a new
physician’s life.
Debt is reshaping the field
of medicine, as more students choose certain medical specialties over others to
pay off their debts. Gary Ventolini, MD, regional dean of the
medical school at the Texas Tech University
Health Sciences Center’s Permian Basin campus, said some students are considering
more lucrative specialties, instead of traditional primary care. He said the
choice of career and debt concerns often spill over into personal life choices.
“[Debt] influences their decisions about whether to marry or not, or to have a
family,” Dr. Ventolini said. “Many are afraid of losing a girlfriend or
boyfriend [if they wait].”
James
Dahle, MD, a Utah emergency physician who also runs the financial website WhiteCoatInvestor.com, said medical students’
best strategy for coping with debt is to learn the basics of personal finance,
live frugally, and do everything possible to cut expenses and avoid adding more
debt ― both during school and while they’re paying back their student
loans. “It’s the basics of personal finance ― it’s just math,” he said. “You
don’t get a pass on math because you’re a doctor and you decided to do
something good with your life.”
Dr. Thorngren anticipates paying off her medical school loans in her 40s or
50s. And despite the cost,
Dr. Hernandez said she has no regrets about her dual-degree career choice. “I've
always said, ‘Do what you want because you’re passionate about what you want to
do,’ ” she said. “Consider the amount it will cost you, but don’t choose
something just because of how many dollar signs there are.”
TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation,
representing more than 50,000 physician and medical student members. It is
located in Austin and has 110 component county medical societies around the
state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans.
--30--
Contact: Brent Annear (512) 370-1381; cell: (512) 656-7320; email: brent.annear[at]texmed[dot]org
Marcus Cooper (512)
370-1382; cell: (512) 650-5336; email: marcus.cooper[at]texmed[dot]org
Connect with TMA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Check out MeAndMyDoctor.com for interesting and timely news on health care issues and
policy.