Posted on 12/29/2013 7:22:11 AM PST by Libloather
I don't think that is likely. There has been a ceiling placed on the number of US medical residency training positions since the The Balanced Budget Act of 1997. (You-know-who was president when that law was passed! Only a Democrat would think that limiting the supply of anything would lower the price!)
The number of intern and residency positions is now about the same as the number of US allopathic and osteopathic medical graduates. If a doctor can't complete a residency s/he can't become licensed and board certified. Finding residency positions is already a problem for US citizens who attend Caribbean medical schools -- and they already speak English. Yes, they "could" import doctors from abroad, but these doctors won't be able to obtain residency positions and won't be able to practice medicine here in the US.
There was a physician supply problem even before Clinton signed the limit into law in 1997. There are fewer physicians per 1,000 people in the US than in most other OECD countries. In 2010, the U.S. had 2.4 practicing physicians per 1,000 people -- well below below the OECD average of 3.1. Even if they started tomorrow -- and the Obama administration doesn't even understand that this is a problem -- it would probably take decades to fix it.
In the beginning was the word and the word was changed. Do you really think that Obama and the Dems are restricted by the law? Obama granted a backdoor amnesty to the Dreamers, approximately 1.4 million of them. Until now, he has legalized the status of 500,000 of them and issued them work permits.
If the US needs more doctors, we will import them. I understand that Canadian doctors don't have these same restrictions re residencies. This exemption could be expanded.
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