With a nationwide shortage of doctors, this will have an impact that we, as a nation, should replicate. When I hear the $$ that doctors spend on education, no wonder medical care is so expensive!

Medical costs are connected to insurance/lawsuits/liability not their education costs. Most Doc if not married and motivated could be debt free with in three years of graduation. There's no incentive to put all resources into paying off debt.

A wonderful and much needed donation.

The cost of an education certainly is a factor in the high cost of medical care in the U.S., but it is also attributable to large managed care companies. I've talked to some doctors, mostly general practitioners, after office costs, malpractice insurance, etc. they do not make a huge amount of $; but when some of them then are hired by for-profit companies it may not be the change they thought they were after. I don't think it is the doctors that are getting all the $ from high priced procedures.

She is very generous and has donated to many other NYC non-profits. Kudos to her, and to her husband, who told her to do something good with the money.

In my family are people who have recently gone through medical schools and other 4 year professional schools. I'll try to briefly share some comments about what I've learned through their experiences.

- Medical school "seats" have increased in the last decade, both with expansion of existing schools and the opening of new ones, but another funnel needed to pass through before practicing is the completion of a residency. Available residency numbers have not increased at the same rate as admission slots and the shortfall means there are increasing numbers of med school graduates who are unable to complete the training required before becoming a practicing doc.

-Medical residencies range from 3-6 years and for some a bit more, depending on the specialty. The pay is pretty standard at about $60K per year +/-, enough to get by in their mostly urban locations but not much more. Those with loans are not " debt free with in (sic) three years of graduation. "

-Acceptance rates at medical schools, even with the self-screening, are less than 50%. In addition to the few tuition free schools, there are many financing and scholarship programs available to help with the cost. The concern about the cost of the years of training and no income and perhaps consequent loans does not result in available slots going unfilled.

-The same financial considerations and student loans apply to other health professional doctorates but only medicine requires the years of extra training after graduation. For the others - veterinarians, pharmacists, physical therapists, optometrists, dentists, etc., there's also the issue of living costs and tuition during the 4 years of school. Those paths with tougher admission standards, like vet school or dental school, remain very selective with low acceptance rates and far more unsuccessful applicants than successful ones.

Starting salaries for new docs in competitive areas is over $150K per year. While student loans grow before payments start being made, a balance of several hundred thousand dollars does not unduly burden or stop people who want to spend their lives in these professions.

Edit

Oh, PS, malpractice insurance in most locations is not very pricey (because of state laws limiting awards) and most docs work for group practices anyway. A family dentist (a profession with relatively high rates of problems) pays less than $5K per year.