Doctors get paid a lot (by the drug industry)

Sunshine laws may seem stringent, but doctors continue to benefit from the, ah, generosity of the biopharma industry. A ProPublica investigation has found more than 700 doctors who have earned at least $1 million from drug makers or medical device companies over the past five years alone. And some 2,500 made at least half a million. 

The ProPublica analysis found that Xarelto, a blood thinner made by Janssen, generated the most payments to doctors — with a stunning $29.2 million dropped in 2016 alone. 

As Dr. Wallid Gellad, a University of Pittsburgh health policy professor, quite aptly put the whole deal: “Holy smokes.”