William Bigelow
Now that Obamacare has jumped the hurdle of the Supreme Court, the New York Times has decided to give us the bad news: there are nowhere near enough doctors in the country, and the problems will get exponentially worse with the addition of millions soon to be insured by Obamacare. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that in less than three years the country will be almost 700,000 doctors short.
The danger of Obamadare is that without it, by 2025 the projected number of doctors would be more than 100,000 too little, but with Obamacare, the number would be almost 50% more than that.
Dr. G. Richard Olds, the dean of the new medical school at the University of California, Riverside, said, “We have a shortage of every kind of doctor, except for plastic surgeons and dermatologist.”
Dustin Corcoran, the chief executive of the California Medical Association, which represents 35,000 physicians, said:
It results in delayed care and higher levels of acuity. (People) access the health care system through the emergency department, rather than establishing a relationship with a primary care physician who might keep them from getting sicker.
The federal government has recommended that a given region have 60 to 80 primary care doctors per 100,000 residents, and 85 to 105 specialists. In the worst area for doctor shortages in California, the Inland Empire, there are roughly 40 primary care doctors and 70 specialists per 100,000 residents.
Smart, Intelligent, Americans who are actually realists have been trying to convince ‘other’ Americans that this was coming down the pike, and this is just the tip of the iceberg….people’s intoxication over OFraud and Ofraudcare has limited their judgement and reasoning immensely…and as per usual we all get sucked into the mire with the idiots….
With any luck, perhaps the ratio will go down once people who come here for the free health care will no longer be able to get free health care… this is the only up side I see for this… at least I think it’s an upside…because there aren’t many….
If the GOP leadership in the House had any stones at all, they would have already defunded this mess. It’s just easier to keep passing the repeal of it, knowing it will be tabled by good ‘ole Harry.
Everyone realized this would happen—liberals are not blind—contrary to ultra-conservative’s opinion. We also recognize that if conservatives would quit fighting this thing—and standing in the way of progress (just as the do on the jobs front)—the government could enact its program to create enough MD’s to supply the future demand.
Gee.
I cannot for the life of me imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to try to become a doctor!
I mean, over a 50% drop out rate from most pre-meds, med schools.
And huge debt.
And now, with Obamacare, no way to ever earn enough to repay it.
Good thing the babyboomers are a demographic bump instead of a plateau.
By 2025 most of them will be gone.
While Mayor Bloomberg takes away baby formula from his 27 NY City hospitals (to encourage breastfeeding) Iran is taking away all birth control to encourage baby making!
@Nan G:
Unfortunately, Nan, the doctor shortage being discussed above is not solely going to be due to Obamacare, although that certainly will exacerbate the problem.
The rising cost of medical school, and the subsequent toll on doctors, in the form of loans, force many of them to confront their own financial health. Many of the new doctors choose to specialize, as the earnings are greater, and thus, allow a greater standard of living, than if they became a general practitioner. As well, the material, “got to have it now”, compete with the Jones’ attitude has added to that above, creating the desire to gain as much material possession as possible, in as short a time as possible, which increases the incentive for medical students to specialize in medicine.
This was happening prior to Obamacare, which makes Lib1’s statement “Everyone realized this would happen”, while being truthful(rare for Lib1), an asinine comment to make. One of the arguments against Obamacare was the shortage of doctors it would likely produce, and yet, that was not enough, coupled with the other criticisms of it, to make the politicians stop and think about what Obamacare would really do. Instead, it was shoved down our throats.
And Lib1’s further statements above, are even more asinine. He/she/it is essentially saying, “If you people would just shut up and go along with it, this rape will be over sooner”.
@Liberal1 (objectivity): You said:
So, according to you the government could begin supplying enough MDs right now to meet the increased demand of Obamatax, sorry – Obamacare.
And the only reason they don’t is because Conservatives won’t let them?
Wow, didn’t know that we Conservatives wielded that much power.
But all that aside, exactly how would this government program work?
What we need to do is get rid of the Democrats that voted for this awful law! Vote them out! Donate to a Republican, help a Republican campaign, and vote Republican! Then we can repeal Obamacare and fix health insurance with free market solutions.
@Liberal1 (objectivity):
Riiiiight….so the government can just wave a magical leftist wand and produce more doctors, if only conservatives would support an inherently disastrous ultra left program based on a series of leftist lies and unsustainable economic policies that discourage people from entering medical practice.
Pure delusion.
thomas
hi, there is still lots of time, we are still in 2012 july,
bye