Trends in the Earnings of Health Care Professionals in the United States, 1987-2010

Understanding trends in physician earnings is important given health care cost growth and proposed Medicare physician fee reductions.1 National surveys find that annual physician incomes increased 24% between 1982 and 19892 and decreased 7.1% between 1995 and 2003.3 Other surveys suggest that physician incomes increased only slightly since 2004.4 However, little is known about how growth in physician earnings compares with other health professionals. Comparing physicians and other health professionals is necessary to assess whether physician labor earnings have outpaced or lagged behind earnings growth of other workers in the health care sector.