They probably would be paid less. And I don't think that there's anything wrong with that, to be honest. I am pre-med, and I am not in it for the money, and I don't think that doctors should choose their profession based on annual income, as many do. Those doctors worry me.

yes your right i live in the uk and we have free healthcare provided by the NHS and a lot of doctors and nurses are leaving for other countries as they just dont get paid enough here because of constant budget cuts and bureaucracy

Great question and I can not answer the question cause we do not have universal health care in America but as a DAV the VA is sort of like universal health care I would say that we would be in big trouble if the syatem turns out like the VA's health plann you might not see youre doc but once a year other than that you have what they call an open program its when you call say like today and they give you an appt for next month and the psych doc seeme every 3 months and he says he wishes he could see me every week but due to cut backs this is the way it has to be

Also consider that doctors in other countries typically do not have to pay for their medical education, which is tremendously expensive in the US.

Yes, the conundrum in the US is that the Dr.s here have paid over $150k for their medical degree, in addition to all their previous education. So, most are riddled with debt. And you have to work so hard to be a Dr. in this country, whereas other nations let you go to med school right out of high school. I can see them freaking out if they were suddenly told they could only make $80k per year when they have been used to making over $200k. Its basic economics, I don't see them as being selfish at all.

American medical education system needs reform two, it takes much longer time and student debt to graduate a medical student in the U.S. than other countries. But are we really producing superior medical doctors? I challenge this assumption. Most complaints from American patients about foreign doctors tend to be cultural or language barrier related not medical skill related, per my own experience as a patient. American doctors and lawyers are the last two professionals that should open to foreign competition. If America is brave enough to let high tech IT worker market open to foreign professionals for competition when there is no severe worker shortage and compensation inflation, would it make sense to do the same when the American health care system is likely to lead the nation to bankruptcy due to excessive doctor compensation? Even other developed countries such as Japan and Germany have realized this and reined in doctor compensation.

Oh darn, they're just going to have to settle for that four-bedroom home instead of one with seven. Also, they will only be able to drive two cars instead of five.

The doctors in england earn more then enough, i know a few with $100,000,000 homes 3 cars etc.... so im sure the doctors in America would cope!!!!

damn, I don't know how they will survive. I do know this..we as American people won't without a decent system that we can depend on when we get sick. I have faced this, close friends are facing this now. There is no sense in people in the 40's dieing because they can't get health care..lieing around in pain not being able to walk because they are not "rich" for treatment.. People want to complain that they don't want their taxes supporting this. These people that "can't work" for being sick..guess what your taxes ARE supporting them..either way you look at it..you are PAYING. wouldn't it be better to have them well so they can be a productive hard working member of society rather than living on disability or some other program.

While I believe in getting into any professional with the intent of providing good and services valuable for the society first, certain economic measures should be taken to quality people who want to get into a professional would be fairly compensated for their contribution to the society. The thing with American doctors and lawyers are that the free market mantra that most Americans believed in could not apply here due to resistance from lobbyists. It is time that America breaks down these two barriers for the good of the whole nation. I do not see any other way out of this. America, as a nation, cannot afford the burden of excessive health care and legal costs to the society. Unless the basic supply and demand imbalance is resolved, America as a nation will be dragged down the ranks of leading nations while only these two groups plus business and Wall Street executives sit at tip of the compensation pyramid, putting their burdens on the rest of the American society.

The influence of medical lobbyists have prevented a more efficient market. This tends to happen in any society where specific groups aggregate enough money and power to run the society for their own gain. America forces its students to undergo a four-year education and then apply to a medical schools and law schools which are considered bachelors in most other nations. This tends to restrict entry to wealthier or more stable families or only to very best talent. It is a straight-forward supply and demand problem that keeps that salaries of doctors high. I am a graduate of one of the top high schools in the nation and later went to one of the top undergraduate and graduate engineering programs. Many of my classmates who went to Cornell, Stanford, Harvard, etc. have elected to become doctors instead of engineers, scientists, or mathematicians probably because of the stability and high-income of the medical profession. It is not their fault- it is our nations'. Just as we have neglected to pay our teachers, we neglect to invest in encouraging Americans to go into the area that American still dominates (but is losing its grip on)- science and technology. Pretty soon our nation's wealth will be concentrated in non-innovative health-care providers (some estimate to be a 1/3 of GDP), elite lawyers and bankers, while the rest of the world catches up and takes our industry (manufacturing is already halfway out). Even our digital and high-tech talents (Microsoft, Google, IBM) will eventually find it unreasonable to keep their bases of operations in the United States as China, India, and Europe supply cheaper and SMARTER manpower. We have to get rid of the parasite of the innovative-less health-care industry that is leeching the life-blood of America. We may become more like the United Kingdom with its renowned higher education system (Oxford, Cambridge), but its steep fall from the superpower that it once was. If the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and the developing world uses us only for our gradually-poorer consumers and our higher education, while they start developing superior technology from our research, our fall may be even sharper. There are already many examples of companies from developing nations (e.g. MediaTek of Taiwan) that are kicking out huge western players such as Texas Instruments which once dominated their respective markets (in this instance- standard mobile phone chips). Solutions: 1. Education-improve K-12 (universal afterschool?) 2. Education-make it easier for people to become MDs 3. Education-invest in science and technology sector, and spur the interest of students into those professions