The
American Medical Establishment and
their Difficulties

This column was no doubt selected for publication by the Pathfinder editors in order to clear up the class-envy smears that circulated throughout the fruited plane concerning the ill-conceived rumors that doctors were the only ones thriving during the Great Depression.

“Even in the boom year of 1929, half the doctors received a net income of only $3,800 or less. More than 21,000 practitioners, about 15 percent of all [the doctors] in the United States, got less than $1,500 from their professional activities while more than four percent lost money on their year’s work.”

The organization that conducted this study, the Committee on the Cost of Medical Care, revealed that the average sum coughed up by the families in their research totaled a mere $71.00; the approximate amount paid annually by the ailing American public was $3,000,000,000. In 1931, the United States had over 142,000 doctors.

During the Depression, many doctors and nurses worked entirely for free; to read about that, click here…

CLICK HERE to read additional primary source articles about the Great Depression…

CLICK HERE to read about African-Americans during the Great Depression.

Click here to read about the end of the Great Depression…