Shortage of Doctors Proves Obstacle to Obama Goals
New York Times ^ | April 27, 2009 | Robert Pear
Posted on Monday, April 27, 2009 8:21:53 AM by Jim Noble
WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials, alarmed at doctor shortages, are looking for ways to increase the supply of physicians to meet the needs of an aging population and
millions of uninsured people who would gain coverage under legislation championed by the president... Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat and chairman of the Finance Committee, said Medicare payments were skewed against primary care doctors — the very ones needed to coordinate the care of older people with chronic conditions like congestive heart failure, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease...
“Primary care physicians are grossly underpaid compared with many specialists,” said Mr. Baucus, who vowed to increase primary care payments as part of legislation to overhaul the health care system...
The Association of American Medical Colleges is advocating a 30 percent increase in medical school enrollment, which would produce 5,000 additional doctors each year...
“If we expand coverage, we need to make sure we have physicians to take care of a population that is growing and becoming older,” said Dr. Atul Grover, the chief lobbyist for the association. “Let’s say we insure everyone. What next? We won’t be able to take care of all those people overnight.”... The experience of Massachusetts is instructive. Under a far-reaching 2006 law, the state succeeded in reducing the number of uninsured.
But many who gained coverage have been struggling to find primary care doctors, and the average waiting time for routine office visits has increased...(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Another Peter Pan fantasy by Obama and the liberals.
This is hair brained idea like the rest of them and will lead to rationing, decreased quality of care, and higher costs.
You know what they say about the road to hell right?
?
