Can a surgeon actually make 2 million dollars a year (Like Dr. Burke or Dr. Shepperd)?

Question

I was just wondering.....if you are an amazing surgeon can you actually make that amount of money?

Answer 1

Yes they can if they are doing expertise surgery that no one else does, example a heart transplant, that's many hours of surgery on a patient say the cost is $20,000 cost of everything, if you had 1 patient a day that cost that much that would be $100,000 a week, it adds up.

Answer 2

Nah... that's just for TV docs.

Doctors' fees are a lot higher than what they actually get paid. Insurance companies and government agencies pay what they pay - we don't really get any say in it.

If a heart surgeon charges $20,000 for a bypass, Medicare might pay him $5,000, and he eats the rest. Every plan for every insurance company is different.

Then you have to subtract the cost of the doctor's malpractice premiums, office staff, billing company, office rent, disability insurance, continuing education courses, license fees and society dues, etc. etc. etc. The cost of a medical practice can be quite high.

The amount of money a surgeon makes has NOTHING to do with his skill. It has to do with how many patients he can operate on in a year, and what insurances those patients have. Some of the best surgeons work in teaching hospitals for a salary far below what a private practice surgeon makes.

Answer 3

yes an actor that is a surgeon on television can make $2million/yr, but not a surgeon....they make wayyyyyy less.

for example if surgeons treated only medicare patients they would make around 70$K/yr. awesome compensation after 4yrs med school and 5 yrs residency training.

Answer 4

it's possible.