7/27/2019 Doctors Are Part of Health Care Too!

1/3

7/27/2019 Doctors Are Part of Health Care Too!

2/3

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;

7/27/2019 Doctors Are Part of Health Care Too!

3/3

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.