A number of town hall meetings have taken place throughout the Country. Many members have avoided the meetings because of the confrontations that have taken place and the feeling that these meetings have been packed by those opposed to the Obama health plan. How much of this is accurate we will never know. However, we do know that many Americans whether they attended town hall meetings or not, are deeply worried about their health care, do not understand the legislation, and are not sure that change in this area equals progress.
It appears that common sense has deserted the debate. The most important part of any health care legislation has been overlooked. Let’s accept for sake of argument the fact that there are 47 million Americans without health insurance and that somehow or other they will get health insurance that will be paid for by somebody. If this is true the question must be asked as to how will the system absorb 47 million more people without any provisions being made to increase the health care infrastructure, including providers.
In a recent column in the USA Today newspaper the cover story pointed out that the number of U.S. medical school students going into primary care has dropped 51.8% since 1997. The American Academy of Family Physicians is predicting a shortage of 40,000 family physicians by 2020. It costs a doctor $140,000 to $200,000 for medical school tuition, and it can take them up to 11 years to finish their education. The need for primary care physicians will be increasing as the 78 million baby boomers begin to turn 65 in 2011 and will require increasing care. The problem of scarcity with doctors can be echoed with nurses and others who work in the health care field.
It is obvious that we have to pass new legislation that will attract doctors and nurses, and should include forgiveness of tuition for service in specific fields of medicine. We must look to see what can be done to expand treatment to people who are not seriously ill but still need medical attention. Possibly we could look at the system the Navy has developed over many years for its corpsmen. We need to expand the training, duties, and responsibilities of medical assistants. We need to see what additional facilities we have that are not being totally used, such as veterans hospitals, hospitals in areas that are declining in population, veterans outpatient clinics, etc.
If nothing is done the 47 million new participants in our health care system will create a major scarcity of health care resources beginning at the top with doctors. It will be difficult to find a doctor and even more difficult to get to see one. For example, problems will develop because people can’t get to their primary care physician for a needed MRI and the cancer won’t be found in time. It is not fair to the 47 million people who will be joining the system, or to those who presently have health care, to make dramatic changes without providing for an increase in health care providers. It is my belief that any legislation that passes without a significant portion being devoted to funding the expansion of the health care infrastructure is legislation that should not pass.
