In response to Don's comment about money motivation.  Persons considering a career in medicine are smart enough to think about the cost vs benefit in terms of salary (in addition to other factors-love of medicine, work hours, lifestyle, training, etc.).  Considering the high cost of medical school and the small pay during residency, it is obvious that more money could be made in other careers during the same time frame.  Taking 6 or so years raking up debt only to take a small pay increase compared to other industries, business or elsewhere, makes alternatives much more appealing.  If we continue to decrease the pay of our physicians, we will lose the applicants who have a strong desire to enter medicine but do not see the benefits to help them create a healthy lifestyle.  Who wants to earn less hourly pay than lawyers, specialty nurses, sales representatives, and business/marketing jobs? The result will be a diminished application pool consisting of only those who simply do not care about their own wellbeing (and may even lead to a less effective physician.  Who wants advice from a physician who has an unhealthy lifestyle by working all the time?) and/or have a love of healing at any cost.  Either way, the applicant pool will decline and we loose great people to other professions.