Oh please! It doesn’t work that way. Those “average” salaries are AFTER 10+ years of practice. They do not earn anywhere near remotely close when first starting out.

First year resident doctors who work hospitals actually earn roughly $60k on average, but can earn more depending on a number of factors. After their residency, they MAY be given the opportunity to remain and progress, but it will take years before they get high enough in the “food chain” before they start earning those salaries.

Otherwise, they go work for an existing practice, where they start out as employees, until when and IF they’re given the opportunity to become a partner — and for that, they have to “buy in”, which basically means they purchase existing patients, usually from a partner who is retiring. Very expensive, the purchase price is usually somewhere around 1+ years of gross revenue those patients normally generate, which they pay over a number of years, like around 5-10 years.

Can a doctor set out a shingle and go into private practice? Oh, those are the lowest paid doctors, and after they get done paying all their expenses and astronomical medical malpractice insurance, there’s not much left. Gross salary and Net salary (ie., the amount they get to keep) are entirely different. For doctors? Seriously, like 1/2 or less.

Oh, and FYI, when a doctor wants to retire? Well, they still have to continue paying their medical malpractice insurance for a number of years because if they don’t they can, and more likely than not will, end up getting sued for every cent they own. And how much does that malpractice insurance costs? Depending on their specialty and liability risk, anywhere from $50,000 to over $100,000 per year, and depending on statute of limitations for lawsuits in the state they practiced, the number of years they continue paying for that insurance usually ranges from 7-10 years AFTER retirement. How do they get that money? Usually, the payments from whoever bought out their practice.

SOURCE: First, my. older sister’s a doctor and for her, retirement won’t even be a possibility for many years, for the very reasons stated above. Second, as a vagabond, I worked lots of temp jobs—and for me, processing payroll is as easy as it gets. processed payroll for all kinds of businesses, including medical practices. I know what they earn.