Michigan Physician Group Proposes Long-Term Project To Raise State Physician Population, Reduce State Medical School Costs

The Michigan State Medical Society on Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association in Chicago announced a proposal for a long-term initiative to increase the state's physician population and rein in medical school costs, the Detroit News reports. According to the News, medical students' tuition debt in the state can average between $155,000 and $200,000, and students are increasingly "forgoing the lower-paying practices such as pediatrics and family medicine for more lucrative specialties, such as surgery and radiology."

Under the medical society's resolution, medical school students could sign up for paid internships in their fourth year of school after they have successfully completed their initial licensing exams, and medical school tuition costs would be frozen in students' freshman year to help them gauge the amount of loans they will need. According to a study conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the annual income in 2006 of primary care physicians was 30% lower than the base earnings for all physicians in the same year, which was about $216,600. The medical college association noted that the burden of debt on new graduates remains significant, considering that they are expected to spend an additional three years on residency training after graduation with first-year pay of about $44,000 to $45,000.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Education in July 2009 will eliminate a program that allows graduates in their residencies to enroll in a tuition payment deferment program.
Laura Chromy, the most recent chair of the medical society's student group and a 2008 graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, said the move by the education department would leave many future physicians in a financial difficulty. The resolution estimates that the average monthly payment for a $160,000 tuition loan on a 25-year repayment plan would start at $1,400 or about 50% of a resident's salary after taxes, according to the resolution. Chromy, who helped develop the resolution, said, "We're required to do this residency, but we can't defer," adding, "If we're trying to increase the supply of physicians, the answer is not to make it harder to make physicians" (Rogers, Detroit News, 6/18).