The Residency Racket

[MrsK]

Interesting op ed about residency compensation. Thoughts?

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/...s/201406010023

[SuzySunshine]

I think they need to be paid more, I'm sure everyone else here agrees with that. I think this person also did a much better job of arguing it then the chick who wanted to do away with the match to increase salary which makes NO sense. But I don't think it will happen in our current healthcare environment.


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[moonlight]

I didn't read the whole thing but I agree that wadges should be increased. Its a joke to be paid 43K as a intern. With high insurance premiums and 8% state income taxes... we were struggling!

[Thirteen]

We lived in a high COL area, with super high taxation rates.
We lived with my in-laws, and still barely scraped by.


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[TulipsAndSunscreen]

With private med school loans, it's basically impossible to make monthly loan payments on that salary if you have a family and you live anywhere that is even medium COL. DH's salary would cover our mortgage, cars, car insurance, and maybe food. Maybe. There would be no paying toward loans and heaven forbid a car broke down, someone got sick, or something needed a repair on our house.

It's frustrating but I'm thankful that my earning power is enough to let us have small luxuries like a dinner out, disability insurance, or dance lessons for DD. We go on vacation bc my dad gives us hotel points.

I don't get why immediately after law school, when by BigLaw standards you are still YEARS from flying solo, you get paid plenty but residents work the same horrible hours and get very little. But then again, it's basically free labor to the hospitals since Medicare pays for it. That's what holds down the wage.

[DrBandMe]

I'm feeling more and more fortunate that our budget can be fully supported on his resident salary alone (including savings). I will still do my best to find work to help pay for infertility costs but I am realizing how rare the situation we're in really is.

[diggitydot]

I'm feeling more and more fortunate that our budget can be fully supported on his resident salary alone (including savings). I will still do my best to find work to help pay for infertility costs but I am realizing how rare the situation we're in really is.

Our training situation was similar. It made things a LOT more pleasant.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I'm feeling more and more fortunate that our budget can be fully supported on his resident salary alone (including savings). I will still do my best to find work to help pay for infertility costs but I am realizing how rare the situation we're in really is.

How is this possible? I'm incredulous.

[corn poffi]

Our institution pays residents really well (compared to other programs), and we are in a low COL city. We couldn't survive off of just his salary, but that's because we don't want to.

[HouseofWool]

How is this possible? I'm incredulous.

You carry monthly expenses that they don't. No nanny, no in-laws.

[MAPPLEBUM]

I don't really see it getting better. Residents don't have leverage because everyone knows they won't be around in a few years. There are no long term residents. Unless current attendings started fighting for the cause they just don't have much bargaining power. It personally doesn't bother me so much. The trade off is if they mess something up they're protected by the hospital. That is not the same for nurses or nurse practitioners.

We're low COL??! I'd say medium. We could have had a multi level house for what we pay if we'd stayed in Winston. Same as if we'd matched in Gainesville or Iowa City.

[Mrs. MD, Esq.]

My COL makes me cry...DH's after-tax salary barely covers our monthly rent. If I didn't work we'd be screwed...hell, we're in a rough spot now with some unexpected expenses and I am not willing to dip into our (very meager) savings!

[DrBandMe]

We can do it because of what a couple people mentioned. As CP said, the program's pay was the second highest that he visited. The only higher one was in a high COL so in real money, this was the highest paying. So that's one tick in our favor.

Next up is that we are choosing to forgo some things in order to make it work. Such as, we only have one car that is paid off so we don't have a car payment.

Things will be tight, (I wasn't trying to gloat) but we can theoretically cover 10% savings, IBR on both of our loans, and manage the rest. We also have a pretty healthy savings account right now to help unexpected pop ups. I feel lucky beyond words. Now to put it into practice next month.

[corn poffi]

I don't really see it getting better. Residents don't have leverage because everyone knows they won't be around in a few years. There are no long term residents. Unless current attendings started fighting for the cause they just don't have much bargaining power. It personally doesn't bother me so much. The trade off is if they mess something up they're protected by the hospital. That is not the same for nurses or nurse practitioners.

We're low COL??! I'd say medium. We could have had a multi level house for what we pay if we'd stayed in Winston. Same as if we'd matched in Gainesville or Iowa City.

Compared to where we could have matched, I'm gonna call it low.

I mean, we could always move to more questionable areas of the city. One of our residents shares a $500/month apartment with her fiancé. She may or may not be insane.

[diggitydot]

The Residency Racket

My dude trained at one of the highest paying programs in the nation in a VERY low-COL area. It didn't suck. Add in that moonlighting was encouraged and well-paid, too, and it was not hard for me to stay home with the kids during training years.