FixHealthCarePolicy

ObamaCare Will Worsen Family-Doctor Shortage

Bloomberg News’ Pat Wechsler reports today that President Obama’s health overhaul, aiming to insure 36 million Americans who don’t have coverage, “will worsen a family-doctor shortage, triggering longer waits for office visits and crowded emergency rooms.”

“‘This is already a catastrophic crisis,’ said Joseph Stubbs, president of the Philadelphia-based American College of Physicians, the second-largest doctor’s group in the U.S. ‘Now we’re talking 30 million more people who will want to see a doctor. The supply of doctors just won’t be there for them.’”

Wechsler reports that, “Underserved areas in the U.S. currently need 16,679 more primary-care physicians to reach a ‘medically appropriate’ target of 1 for every 2,000 residents, U.S. data shows. The health-care overhaul bills before Congress would raise pay for family doctors, increase residency training and forgive school debt to help meet that deficit. Those measures, though, will take years to make a difference, said Stubbs, who also works as an internist in Albany, Georgia.” Read the rest of the story here.

Tags: doctor shortage, ObamaCare, uninsured