Thursday, July 23, 2009

Health Care Shortage

The site above tells of the current and projected shortage of doctors in America. The push for national healthcare continually forgets one very important fact. In countries that have nationalized or socialized medicine, the physicians are able to go to medical school for much less cost (and in some countries for free) to medical school if they qualify for admission. American medical students are graduating with an average debt of $150,000. How can a student enter practice knowing that they will not be reimbursed at a rate sufficient to cover even their student loans, let alone the additional costs, such as malpractice. Rural areas, where reimbursement rates are lower, will be hit even harder and are already suffering from a physician shortage.

The problem will only get worse with the proposed healthcare initiative being strong-armed into existence by President Obama. We've had patients that have lived in countries, such as Great Britain, with nationalized health care and they've reported that there was a waiting time for basic services of up to six months or more. Insuring more people will not only overwork existing doctors, but will disinsentivize people from considering going into medicine. If there is change in the cost of going to medical school, it would offer more qualified students a chance to study medicine and create an environment where financial renumeration is not such an overarching issue. Somehow, I don't see the cost of medical school going down anytime soon, though.