1. Size of medical school classes not increasing with population
2. US has an artificially small amount of residency slots.
These are largely due to AMA lobbying afaik and bad bills. But if we allowed every qualified medical student to enroll, and gave a residency slot to every graduate. In a decade we would have really shrunk the gap.
I actually have a routine visit with a specialist at one of the top hospital systems in the country in 2 days, and I see in the portal I'm seeing a "CRNP, MSN", not a doctor.
I am in the process of trying to find a primary care provider, and I cant find anyone accepting new patients.
Bigger places you basically see the doctor for 2 minutes when you actually need one. I went to a ortho surgeon and they had a dozen patients “seeing them” at the same time. As he just went between rooms and nurses prepped everything.
edit if doctor scarcity were the issue then doctors would have a lot more leverage in salary negotiations than they do, which is to say they don't have much. because the hiring practices are limited by what they can bill, which they have no power over.
That aside, what if novel therapies like this are linked to the fact that US healthcare is expensive? If you make it cheap -- as in other countries -- there's less incentive for companies to invest and you get less research and fewer breakthroughs. Also fewer doctors, hospital beds, and more rationing.
In an ideal world, everyone would have exactly the right amount of healthcare. But our world isn't ideal, it runs on incentives, and it's not clear to me that all the hand-wringing over US healthcare will lead to positive changes.
Yes. I recently made a resolution to get established with all the medical professionals I don’t have set up. So a primary care, dermatologist, etc. over the past 2 months I’ve visited and had to go back a couple of times. I’ve literally overheard insurance-related issues in all cases. Whether it was the person in line before me or just overhearing people complaining while I’m in the waiting room.
Just last week I was waiting to get my blood drawn and the woman at the front desk, after continued prodding by an elderly man frustrated with lack of coverage, out loud said “Well, that’s insurance in America for you. Go ahead and call the number on the back of your insurance card because we can’t do anything for you.” Just deeply disheartening stuff to watch a late 80s man not realize after 15 minutes of being tossed between automated insurance phone responses that he simply won’t get the help he needs.