Is a nationalized health care system really worth it?

Pre-med students around the country are starting to pay attention to the recent storm of rumors and plans surrounding the United States health care system. Will the government step in and begin regulating hospitals more closely? What will happen to the cost of health care? What will happen to the quality of health care? And weighing even more heavily on students minds, what will happen to doctors' wages? A major government reform to publicize health care would start a chain reaction that, while hopefully leading to lower cost, will lead to lower quality care and a fewer number of qualified students willing to make the long, financially difficult road of medical school.

The average medical school student goes into approximately $150,000 of debt by the time they graduate. Then take into consideration the fact that here at BYU, most of these students have young families that will add considerably to that debt. That being understood, if you then tell these students that their salary is now about to be significantly reduced, how are they supposed to pay off all that debt that they accumulated? And from a undergraduate's perspective, is it worth it to even take that road knowing that even after the nerve breaking stress of a rigorous medical school curriculum, they will still have to work long hours for years to come just to pay off their tuition?

In response to the concern for the cost of medical education, there has been some speculation that either medical schools would have to lower the price of tuition or the government would have to subsidize it to a greater extent. Neither really seems like a desirable solution. If medical schools were to drop the price of tuition, more likely than not the quality of education would decrease significantly. Lack of teachers, equipment, and funding for projects would all combine to lower the level of skill of our medical students. To compensate for this, either the students would have to supplement their learning elsewhere, or spend more time in school to make sure they were sufficiently qualified to enter the work field--sending them into yet more debt. On the other hand, if the government were to subsidize the cost of school, the question comes to mind, where would they get the money from? In an economy of stimulus plans and bailouts, it is difficult to believe the the country's budget could take such a burden. As it stands there just doesn't seem to be a solution for the rising cost of medical school.