I've never heard this applied to the healthcare sector, in the way that doctors think about it their salary. I'm a MD and hear this as an explanation that other MDs give for their compensation i.e. "I would/could have done ibanking instead of neurosurgery, therefore my compensation..."
Unfortunately, MD compensation has more to do with a bottleneck in residency spots (post-medical school training), part of which may be artificially tight from lobbying efforts, but also there are real physical barriers to scaling up medical education. there are only so many operating rooms where a resident can be safely assigned and supervised.
However, I think there is a grain of truth to MD's perception of the Baulmol effect, just in the opposite direction. Despite claims of healthcare being privately-funded, about half of healthcare dollars in the US originate with a government agency of some form. This does not taking into account the fact that healthcare organizations don't pay taxes (501c3), get government-provided free labor (aforementioned residents), and have a workforce educated through government financing. Though not one-to-one, our salaries are impacted by what medicare/medicaid sets as procedure-related reimbursements. Though no MD could live off of medicare payments alone (I think total reimbursement for a PCP visit is $125), its a proxy, and is one of the big reasons why proceduralists (surgeons, anesthesiologists) make more than the thinking specialties (infectious disease, rheumatology). So - I think Baulmol here works in that the public/govt who agree to some compensation for MDs that is commensurate with other high-paying fields. There may be some perception that top students would actually choose ibanking over neurosurgery based on compensation, so the public is willing to pay in the same ballpark. Whether that belief is true is another conversation - and whether we really should be sending top students to medicine (where they tend to despise their job and look elsewhere for intellectual stimulation) is another story as well.
Unfortunately, MD compensation has more to do with a bottleneck in residency spots (post-medical school training), part of which may be artificially tight from lobbying efforts, but also there are real physical barriers to scaling up medical education. there are only so many operating rooms where a resident can be safely assigned and supervised.
However, I think there is a grain of truth to MD's perception of the Baulmol effect, just in the opposite direction. Despite claims of healthcare being privately-funded, about half of healthcare dollars in the US originate with a government agency of some form. This does not taking into account the fact that healthcare organizations don't pay taxes (501c3), get government-provided free labor (aforementioned residents), and have a workforce educated through government financing. Though not one-to-one, our salaries are impacted by what medicare/medicaid sets as procedure-related reimbursements. Though no MD could live off of medicare payments alone (I think total reimbursement for a PCP visit is $125), its a proxy, and is one of the big reasons why proceduralists (surgeons, anesthesiologists) make more than the thinking specialties (infectious disease, rheumatology). So - I think Baulmol here works in that the public/govt who agree to some compensation for MDs that is commensurate with other high-paying fields. There may be some perception that top students would actually choose ibanking over neurosurgery based on compensation, so the public is willing to pay in the same ballpark. Whether that belief is true is another conversation - and whether we really should be sending top students to medicine (where they tend to despise their job and look elsewhere for intellectual stimulation) is another story as well.