Originally Posted by StatsJunky

It's the specialty fields that make the money. GP is exactly that. They're basically jack of all the trades and have a general knowledge of all medicine.

If you have skin problems they will recommend a Dermatoligist.
If you have back problems off to a Chiropractor.
etc. etc.

I don't see how they can command too much more income when the majority of times if there is any problems they will reffer you to a specialist in that field. Not to mention they probably get some sort of kickback from their refferals.

I know when I wanted to see a dermatoligist I couldn't just go and setup an appointment with them, I needed to get a refferal from a GP/family physician first. So the government has to fork out money for me to see GP to say go to this dermatoligist. Alot of money being thrown away on exactly this.