Posted on 11/05/2009 4:36:16 AM PST by Second Amendment First
Even in the absence of health-care reform, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges, the U.S. will face a shortage of at least 125,000 physicians by 2025. We have about 700,000 active physicians today. One factor driving this shortage is that the baby-boomer generation is getting older and will require more care. By 2025 the number of people over 65 will have increased by about 75% of what it is today—to 64 million from 37 million today.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Sounds like death by ‘Ooga booga’.
Markets are very efficient at clearing themselves, if the government will only get out of the way. We could easily train twice as many physicians as we do, if the government enforced monopoly on medical schools and accreditation was relaxed.
Milton Friedman's Ph.D. thesis was on the effect of licensing on the relative cost of physicians and dentists. The AMA just did a better job of limiting the production of doctors than the ADA did in limiting the minting of new dentists.
“Look at the average age of doctors now. Most of the doctors I see are likely to retire in the next ten years”
...if they ram Obama care thru it’ll be less than ten years IMHO....and you’re right, they’ll be an influx of 3rd world medicine coming in....personally, I go to white male doctors...reason is they scored higher on their MCATS when they applied to Med School....when it comes to medical problems I follow the advice of my physician grandfather:
“Always go to the best, because if it’s serious you’re going to end up there anyway”
I was just to an Orthopedic doctor yesterday. In addition to being a past director of the department, and the hospital itself, this guy had creditials up the wing wang. He is a third generation doctor in his late 50’s or early 60’s, how long is he going to put up with all of the B.S.?
One way to immediately get more doctors is for the federal government to remove their caps and quotas for medical schools and the AMA to get out of the way of the universities. Let anyone who can make the grade be a doctor rather than the political football process that exists.
Strict Control of who gets into medical school has a long standing tradition and is on-going. For instance, sixty years ago my father was denied entrance to medical school because his father wouldn’t give the required “gift” to the university fund. He became a research pharmacologist instead. Just a few years ago, my niece, who is a straight A pre-med student, had to go outside the country to medical school because all the female quotas were filled in the state-side universities. She won honors from the University of Maryland but still couldn’t find a place!
If the Reid/Pelosi/Obama-Kare doesn’t get passed you can bet they will do everything they can to destroy the present system as punishment and ammunition against their opposition.
Democrats would rather destroy the country and leave it in radioactive desolation than not have their way.
...personally, I go to white male doctors..
Same here, I want someone who excelled in the profession, can communicate in English and takes pride in his work. The female doctors I’ve been to seem to be more interested in the “community” than the individual patient.
There’s another reason we will have a big doctor shortage and it’s very un PC to discuss. More then HALF of all med school classes are now women. They tend to practice only 60% as much as male physicians. More likely to quit, more likely to work part time, more likely to take long sabbaticals.
I’ve noticed that myself with my wife’s doctors.
Have to agree with you also. And when they are out for maternity leave, their backup always seems to be someone with an unpronounceable name that you can’t understand what they are saying.
We could go to our dog’s vet and have them list us on their records as “Fido” to get quicker care.
Bump
I regret your bad experiences which I have not shared. I got into Medical School as a minority (Italian)in those times. Women now comprise more than 50% of the physician force in med school. One of the problems is they work @75% of the hours a male doctor works and retire earlier. This is not a criticism of women docs as, despite our new society, they still carry the major burdens of family and home. I truly believe your experiences come from the past. If true, I apologize but assure you the whole paradigm has changed. The Feds have no quotas as far as I know. If they do, let us know where they are published.
Not if healthcare reform is implemented.
Becoming a MD is too expensive, takes too long, and with the communists in charge - too unsure that you can make a living at it.
Any questions?
Being a Soviet Doctor, apart from a few "show" clinics, was to be condemned to long hours in a poorly paid, rigid bureaucracy. There was little opportunity to earn money on the side, unless you rose to a senior enough position that you could sell certifications that a boy was medically unfit to be conscripted.
So the talented and ambitious became cab drivers in cities with foreign visitors (who had foreign currency), or baggage handlers for Aeroflot, where they could participate in smuggling rings.
When I get old, I don't want my doctor to be some guy, or gal, who went to medical school because they weren't sharp enough to get a job as a city building inspector, shaking down businesses.
“The female doctors I’ve been to seem to be more interested in the “community” than the individual patient”
...Med schools are 50% women now...as mentioned they average lower MCAT aptitude scores upon admittance...then upon graduation they tend to cluster in pediatrics,psychiatry,dermatology ect....the real hot shots of the profession are the surgeons and they are primarily men....as they retire out, it may be harder to get scheduled for an operation...especially heart and brain surgery.....and BTW, the top 10% of med school students, the most brilliant of them all, often don’t ever practice....they go into research!
I would keep looking. My wife likes her’s, but they do take off a lot. Case in point, I just went to my dentist of 10 years and this dolt wanted me to remove a chipped tooth and replace it with a crown with a pin for 4,000.00! I went to anther dentist without mentioning what the first guy had said until he was done, and he was astonished the first guy recommended that. The total cost for the simple filling, 240.00! Even if you have been to a doctor for a while it is always a good idea to get a second opinion on expensive procedures.
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