Exodus of Doctors?

frogrock wrote:

I know of two doctors who recently moved to Puerto Rico.  My first-hand experience with healthcare in PR has been positive.  There are four hospitals and plenty of doctors in Humacao.

If the numbers are correct, there are 3.5 million Puerto Ricans and 11,000 doctors, that work out to 318 patients per doctor, which is not bad considering that not everyone goes to the doctor all the time and there are 365 days in the year. That means that if we assume doctors work only 1/2 of the year, each doctor would only see about 1.74 patients a day assuming a spread over the year.

Those numbers could explain why you have been receiving satisfactory service.

So maybe is not as bad as the article paints it, but the exodus could accelerate given other news articles that state that some doctors are not always being payed.

Gary wrote:

It sounds like it's a real problem, though.
Read some background information in this article in Caribbean Business.

Interesting article but I do not believe the line: "Recently, graduated doctors stand to earn an average of $100,000 a year stateside versus a paltry $21,000 a year in Puerto Rico, according to data provided during the Chamber of Commerce's (CofC) annual Health & Insurance conference."

A brand new doctor in the US making 100K with no real world experience is darn good. A PR doctor at 21K??? No way, I would believe 50 or 60K but I can not believe 21K starting salary for a doctor.

A person making 10 bucks an hour (10X40 = 400 a week, that is 400x4 = 1,600 a month,  that is 1,600X12 = 19,200 a Year). No way a new doctor gets payed $11.00 an hour!!!!!!!

Heck, for my retirement I am targeting a budget of $5,000 a month which is 60K a year and I will be in my Hammock drinking Pina Coladas instead of working.

taylor_girl wrote:

My Dr friend only schedules 15 patients a day and only works 4 days a week. Not because he can't but he told me " I just live very comfortable with what I make and I love my off time".

So obviously he is making more than $21,000 a year if he is that happy.

Some of these articles are a little exaggerated. Glad you are doing well with HealthCare.

Lsotomaymd wrote:

Starting salary for doctor in Puerto Rico.  General physician, ay least 40k

A lot better than the article I found that said they were getting 21K. But still not fair. A brand new fresh out of school computer programmer in the mainland gets around 40k-60k depending on area, and they do not have the responsibility of a doctor.
Experienced ones get between 85k and 140k