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To the Editor: In their Commentary, Drs Emanuel and Fuchs¹ highlighted a number of challenges in the financing of health care in the United States. They specifically mentioned that physicians in the United States earn double the income of their peers in other developed countries. However, even using the purchasing power parity methodology does not allow for adequate comparisons across countries. A better measure of the return on investment of a medical education is the income of a physician compared with a per capita income measure of a citizen of the same country.

Using this methodology, US physicians are compensated only marginally more than physicians in other countries. Of the countries the authors highlight, France is most similar to the United States in terms of population size and diversity. World Bank data from 2006 show that in France, the gross national income per capita using the purchasing power parity method . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Brent R. Moody, MD
hb4077@pol.net
Nashville, Tennessee

George J. Hruza, MD
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
St Louis, Missouri

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