Obamacare was supposed to be all about access, making it easier for patients to see doctors and get the care they needed. So today’s piece in The Wall Street Journal lamenting the shortage of primary care doctors can’t come as good news to the administration. The article reports,
The Association of American Medical Colleges, or AAMC, predicts that by 2020 the U.S. will be short more than 45,000 primary-care doctors—those who practice internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics. With millions more patients expected to be seeking a doctor because of the Affordable Care Act and 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day for the next two decades, demand for these physicians is outstripping supply. Yet only about 20% of medical residents go into primary care, according to the AAMC.
And if the AAMC’s numbers are right. the trend continues beyond 2020. By 2025 – just twelve years from now – the shortage of doctors will be almost 66,000.
The system’s far from perfect now. Indeed, these data show a shortage of doctors in 2010, before Obamacare. But that shortage was 3.5%. By 2025, we’re talking about 24%. That’s a much more significant problem. Is it possible that Obamacare’s actually making the situation worse, not better?
