Health Insurance and Primary-Care Shortage
According to the article “Primary-Care Doctor Shortage May Undermine Reform Efforts” by Ashley Halsey III in the Washington Post, there are not nearly enough primary-care physicians to meet the needs of patients and providing health insurance to the 46 million uninsured may threaten to overwhelm the already stressed system.
To fix the problem more doctors will need to be lured into primary-care through changes in medical education and compensation. The shortage of doctors could possibly grow to 124,400 by 2025 in a study done by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Fifty years ago, half of the country’s doctors were in primary-care, but today almost 70% of doctors work in specialty areas which generally pay much more. This is driven partly by extremely high medical school debts which often reach upwards of $200,000.
Many doctors also want career paths that shape their desired lifestyle. They often want jobs with less responsibility for on call or weekend jobs. Women in particular prefer working less than 40 hours a week, and who can blame them. Proposals to change funding to favor primary-care have seen resistance from specialists lobbyists. Even if enrollment in medical school increased by 30%, it will still take many years to build the health care system needed to support the newly insured.
