FACT CHECK NO. 2: Average Med School Debt
EmailABC News’ Z. Byron Wolf reports: Georgetown Medical Student Mary Vigil told President Obama she would have about $300,000 in debt when she graduated from medical school – a staggering figure and part of the reason that physicians are forced to eye the bottom dollar as they treat their patients. But Vigil, the first person in her family to attend college, has a much higher debt than the average graduating medical student, according to the American Medical Association. The $139,000 that AMA showed in 2007 is less than half the debt Vigil will have. While not a paltry sum, it is far less than $300,000. While Vigil’s debt may be larger than average, the existence of the debt is no different. Three quarters of graduating medical students have debt of more than $100,000, according to AMA. Visit ABC News special section on health care here.
Can Mitt Romney Win Conservatives Back? 
Possible Contraception Compromise in D.C.
As the mother of a daughter in medical school that is 6 months away from graduating I can tel you that her medical school debt stands at 250,000. She is in a the middle of a big decision as to the specialty she would like to go into. Her Heart is in primary care, Yet with all of this debt hanging over her head is extremely nervous wether she can pay her debt and have a home to live in on what the primary doctors bring in verses what the specialist may bring in and her debt is still increasing besides Med school she also has her undergrad to pay along with it and every test and application that you take is hundreds of dollars more on top of all you owe already. I would like to know how this is going to help her she has given up all of her young adult life to go into this business And if we need primary doctors these kids coming out of med school this year need the help now.
Posted by: Linda | June 24, 2009, 10:43 pm 10:43 pm
I graduated from a 3 year graduate program over 10 years ago with around $100,000 in debt. The 2007 AMA numbers are likely skewed due to some families paying for part or all of their medical educations. The cost of education is a huge issue that drives the cost of healthcare that no one has been talking about.
Posted by: Cory | June 24, 2009, 11:06 pm 11:06 pm
How much money does a doctor make these days versus most jobs? I don’t know about your doctor, but my doctor isn’t driving a Yugo. She chose to go to med school, and knew it would be a costly venture. Besides, Obama is talking about creating a “Debt forgiveness” program for doctors, so they will actually be incented to go to med school. Nice. I just spent two decades paying off just my senior year of college and grad school (and many of those years I was making well below $50,000 per year), and I didn’t see anybody trying to lessen my debt burden associated with the education that I CHOSE to pursue.
Posted by: David Hughes | June 25, 2009, 12:14 pm 12:14 pm
Dave Hughes just b/c you didn’t go into the health field you don’t have to knock what they make. That’s like me saying it’s not fair what an athlete makes and didn’t go to school at all. I am currently in pharmacy school and my total debt for undergrad and professional school will be 150K. If you had any idea the commitment and dedication it takes, and the intense education pharmacist, doctors, and dentist must go through maybe you might understand. Also, you got a PhD and you make less then 50K, you definitely are doing something wrong. Many can get a job without a college degree making 40-50K – prime example retail assistant managers. Also, your payment couldn’t have been that much b/c if I will make under 50K, I won’t be able to pay my $1600.00 monthly payment.
Posted by: Andrew | July 23, 2009, 11:03 pm 11:03 pm
Some additional comments:
The total medical student debt is actually only considering the debt accumulated during medical school. This does not take into account the debt accumulated during undergraduate or graduate studies prior to medical school. Vigil’s medical school debt may actually be a little closer to the average you are assuming, and closer to the $300,000 when all education has been considered.
Second Note: Medical doctors take home money is far less than assumed. Many states have large malpractice fees/insurance (for some places >$100K/yr)ASTRONOMICAL!. This is not covered by the hospital. It is assumed (payed for) by the individual doctor. Additionally, the doctors who actually make the most money are the doctors who do not accept any patient health insurance, thereby requiring cash from all patients. This increases the profit margin spectacularly.
Posted by: KC | September 18, 2009, 6:45 pm 6:45 pm
The real question is why that debt is so much? Average educational debt for medical students in 2008 was over 3.5 times the amount in 1978, after controlling for inflation.
The real reason: borrowing limits. Changes to the Higher Education Act have allowed more borrowing. In turn, medical schools charge based on what students can afford to pay (ie what they can borrow). This has lead to astronomical increases in cost of attendance and consequently educational debt.
It’s a problem because now no one wants to go into primary care.
Posted by: Frank Bauer | December 9, 2009, 6:23 pm 6:23 pm
When you remove those with parental support, military scholarships, and other grants, $200-300K is actually very common; it is unfortunate that the AMA site does not show a distribution and/or standard deviation, or at least provide numbers that exclude these outliers.
When you have a small minority in the military, public health service corps, or wealthy families who have zero debt, that changes the averages significantly.
Ask any medical student anywhere and they will concur that either they or classmates they know are looking at a near-quarter million dollar loans. This “fact check” is laughable; an understandable mistake, but very misleading.
Posted by: Elliott | March 15, 2010, 2:26 pm 2:26 pm