Doctors Are Part of Health Care Too!
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Transcript of Doctors Are Part of Health Care Too!
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US population. Meanwhile, the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that in less
than seven years the nation will be facing a shortage of over 90,000 physicians.
We have all spent our fair share of time in the waiting room. Emilia Gilbert, who was taken to
the emergency room for a hairline fracture of her nose, spent six hours at the hospital; of these,
she says, most of it was spent waiting. She saw a resident physician for fifteen minutes.
The drastic increase of patients practically overnight with no matching increase in doctors means
that physicians will be forced to hire more staff and nurses to deal with the patients that they are
literally unable to see, which will unquestionably result in longer wait times, lower quality of
care, and higher costs for the doctor, not to mention a bastardisation of the doctor-patient
relationship into a cold assembly-line.
Increased strain on doctors will also markedly decrease effectivenessinstead creating counter-
intuitive consequencesof the cost-cutting provisions. More than half of the Medicare cuts will
slash the programs reimbursements to health care providers. This will affect many doctors in the
form of a 16.7% drop in income that is impossible to ignore.
Beverly Frake thought she was lucky when she moved into an apartment across from a medical
complex, but in the waiting room she was informed that they just dont take Medicare
patientsmany doctors have closed their doors to new patients from the program due to fiscal
impossibility. The consequences are obvious: a lack of care and influx of denied patients that
will likely drive prices higherbad news for the baby boomer generation.
The insurance provision itself will also lead to higher prices. Obamacare requires companies to
cover certain essential health benefits, some of which were not previously covered by default;
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mandating something doesnt make it free, though, and premiums must rise to cover these
additional costs. And thanks to simple supply-and-demand economics, doctors are liable to raise
fees in the face of the influx of patients.
The root problem is obvious: there are not enough doctors. Obamacare loads already-stressed
physicians with even more patients, and this will inevitably result in lower quality health care,
loss of the physician-patient relationship, and (very possibly) higher costs.
It turns out that Congress funds only 100,000 medical residencies per year, thanks to
ironicallythe American Medical Association, which made this Faustian bargain in exchange for
higher salaries. Unfortunately, its working, and high physician salaries are a primary factor
behind exorbitant health costs. Opening up the medical profession would kill two birds with one
stonethe physician shortage would be lessened, and it would be an important first step to
reducing the cost of health care.
To be sure, Obamacares goals are worthy reforms that America direly needs. But until our
physicians are adequately prepared to deal with them, they will simply make things worse. The
reforms must be postponed, or at least implemented at a slower rate.
Running twenty miles on day one of training improves nothing. Reform must be implemented
gradually from the bottom upwards. President Obama must learn that quantity can never replace
quality.
Mr. Wang is a senior at Flintridge Preparatory School and intends to take a pre-med track in
college, attend medical school, and become a doctor. His interests include anaesthesiology,
radiology, and extensively editing writing assignments to fit within their bloody word limits.