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Psychiatrists Neutral on Universal Healthcare

Research by physician recruiting firm, LocumTenens.com, indicates that among the medical specialists the firm places, many psychiatrists believe they may have the least to lose if universal healthcare coverage is implemented under the incoming Administration. In its 2008 psychiatrist salary survey, LocumTenens.com asked how psychiatrists thought universal healthcare would affect their personal incomes: among almost 200 respondents, 56% predict universal healthcare would have no effect on their incomes, 21% anticipate a negative effect, while another 23% claim universal healthcare would affect their incomes 'positively.' The average psychiatrist salary saw an increase between 2006 and 2007. In fact, 60% of psychiatrists responding to the physician recruitment firm's 2008 salary survey report income gains between the preceding two years. Among those respondents, 26% report increases of 10% or more, and a quarter of responding psychiatrists say their gross personal incomes remained about the same between 2006 and 2007, while only 15% report income decreases between the two years. Furthermore, recent psychiatrist salary gains reflect a growing shortage of psychiatrists, suggests LocumTenens.com Executive Vice President, Michael Davis, since 45% of U.S. psychiatrists currently are age 55 or older and only 28% are age 44 or younger. LocumTenens.com pegs the average psychiatrist salary at $183,232, roughly an 8% increase over the average $169,833 for 2007 respondents. Regardless of compensation concerns, 83% of psychiatrist respondents say they would choose medicine as a career again if given the choice and that 64% of responding psychiatrists had been practicing for 10 years or more, 61% are male and 97% are board certified (67%) or board eligible (39%). While 47% of respondents are employer-based, 20% are in private practice and only 16% report working on a locum tenens, or contract, basis exclusively.