Compensation

Why is it that so many physicians I now meet talk about reimbursement rates, poor salary/pay, etc.? The talk almost always centers about the disparity between what they do and how they are compensated. It bores me to hear such talk - mostly because I care little about it. Work should be what I enjoy - and if I'm paid to do it, so much the better! But how much am I paid, I care not - so long as I'm able to survive. And by survive I don't mean a large house, fancy cars, etc. I'm earning a stipend now of $25,000 per year before taxes, and I'm still able to save $16,000 over the past 10 years. I'm not poverty stricken - I'm living well, having gone through flight school and financed the purchase of many computers and computer-related hardware (I tend to upgrade nearly annually). So my point of view is rather simple - anything more than $25,000 per year is simply icing on the cake. Put in that perspective, I can get just about any job - even working at a fast food restaurant, and I'd be paid sufficiently.

What really bothers me about all this talk, however, is clearly how hypocritical so many physicians are. On one hand, they all claim that they enjoy this job no matter how poorly they are paid. But then on the very next breath they go ahead and complain about the pay! If they really didn't care, then it wouldn't be an issue, would it?