
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 31, 1993                   TAG: 9303310003
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

PUBLIC THINKS DOCTORS' PAY TOO HIGH; IT'S REALLY HIGHER

Americans are angry over how much money medical specialists, hospitals chiefs and health executives make; and they don't even know how high their pay really is, according to a survey released Tuesday by a consumer group.

"They are angry, but they'd be angrier still if they understood what the health-care profiteers are actually making," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA.

The advocacy group released a survey by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake that asked people what they thought what the average anesthesiologist or radiologist make, as well others in the health-care industry earn.

Those surveyed thought the doctors make $100,000 a year and they suggested $80,000 would be a fair income. In reality, according to American Medical Association figures, the average 1991 income of anesthesiologists was $221,000 and of radiologists $229,000.

Dr. Richard Corlin, a Santa Monica, Calif., gastroenterologist and vice speaker of the AMA's House of Delegates, replied, "What they have done in this study is artifically try to rig the results by taking the highest-paying specialties."

The people guessed that the heads of large hospitals make $150,000 a year, and they rated $100,000 as fair. The actual average income of the chief executives at hospitals with more than 500 beds is $235,000.

The average physician in private practice earned $191,800 after expenses in 1991, or more than six times the average full-time worker's wage of $29,748, said Pollack.

by CNB