Those are crazy outliers I'd say. The average debt is around $250K from what some quick searches can tell. The average salary 10 years after qualifying is about $376K. Bottom line is that it should be manageable.
That's not to say the cost isn't crazy high, it clearly is. I would say that medical costs are impacted more by administrative burdens and middle men and their cuts.
Here's some "good" stats!
Administrative Costs in U.S. Private Healthcare
- Overall Share: Administrative expenses account for approximately 15% to 30% of total U.S. healthcare spending, equating to between $600 billion and $1 trillion annually.
- Billing and Insurance-Related (BIR) Costs: These costs, encompassing activities like claims processing and prior authorizations, represent a substantial portion of administrative expenses. In California acute care settings, BIR costs among insurers, physicians, and hospitals constituted 20–22% of privately insured spending.
- Insurer Administrative Overhead: Private health insurers typically allocate around 12% of premium revenues to administrative functions. This percentage can vary based on the size of the insured group, with smaller firms and individual plans often experiencing higher administrative cost ratios.
- Hospital Administrative Costs: On average, U.S. hospitals dedicate about 24.3% of their spending to administrative activities. For-profit hospitals tend to have higher administrative costs compared to non-profit and public hospitals.
The U.S. spends significantly more on healthcare administration than other developed nations. For instance, in 2020, the U.S. spent $1,055 per person on healthcare administrative costs, whereas the average among 12 other high-income countries was $193 per person.
And for comparison ...
Medicare Administrative Costs
- Traditional Medicare: Administrative expenses for traditional Medicare are notably low. In 2021, they accounted for approximately 1.3% of total program spending, encompassing costs for claims processing and oversight of Part D .
- Medicare Advantage (MA): In contrast, Medicare Advantage plans, which are administered by private insurers, incur significantly higher administrative costs. Reports indicate that administrative expenses in MA are about five times higher than those in traditional Medicare. This increase is largely due to elevated spending on marketing, commissions, and plan management .
Medicaid Administrative Costs
- Fee-for-Service (FFS) Medicaid: Administrative costs in traditional Medicaid programs are relatively low, typically ranging between 2% and 5% of total expenditures.
- Medicaid Managed Care: When Medicaid services are delivered through managed care organizations (MCOs), administrative costs tend to be higher. For-profit MCOs spend an average of 14% of premiums on administrative expenses, while non-profit or provider-owned plans average around 10% .