Don’t know if he’s in SD or not but did he ever consider getting a job with an organization like Sharp, Scripps or Kaiser? They are ALL self-insured, pay the malpractice insurance premiums of their employed professionals and have awesome benefits.
I know you said he has an unusual “specialty.” Did he consider how employable this specialty would be out of school when the time came for him to begin repayment of his “massive” student loan debt? In other words, did he realize at the time of making his practice-specialty decision that he would have to be self-employed in order to practice the unusual specialty he trained for?
I know it’s water under the bridge now, but did you know him when he was considering graduate school? Did he ever consider joining the US Army or Navy who would pay for his medical education while being paid as a junior-grade officer and where he could also avail himself of the Montgomery GI Bill? He would have served his internship and residency in a military hospital and then promise six more years service (I believe). All during this time, the military would have paid for officer quarters for any spouse/children that he has. After six more years of contracted service (I believe it’s either 4 or 6 yrs), he would have been “golden” (debt free) and free to practice wherever he wanted OR he could have retired with the military at approximately age 42, with a lifetime pension (beginning immediately) equal to 1/2 his base pay.
Throughout history, promising students of little means found ways to become professionals without mortgaging their futures away. In the seventies, I believe the biggest BEOG grant available was $4,400 per year and a student’s family literally had to have 2+ children and be on welfare in order to qualify for any Federal grant money at all. As far as Perkins Loans, there was a lifetime cap of about $12K to $15K (including graduate school) at that time. Private student loans were not in existence, nor was “Sallie Mae.”
My current doctors are all local renowned physicians (one conducts nationwide research as a sideline) and are all between 65 and 70 years of age. Two are originally from the east coast but have resided in CA more than 45 years. Most didn’t grow up with silver spoons either. I know the cost of education is much higher today, but these older doctors found a way to fund their educations without mortgaging their futures into oblivion. Everything is relative.
