Family doctors work to keep adult and children healthy and away from the emergency room, controlling medical costs for families and the government alike. Yet, lost in currently heated healthcare policy discussion is the fact that there is real a shortage of family care, or primary physicians, in this country. If this issue isn’t addressed, the more than 40 million people the Obama administration intends to extend coverage to through its healthcare plan are unlikely to have a doctor available to treat them.
There are about 100,000 family physicians, which include primary care doctors and general pediatricians, in the U.S. healthcare system. In the next ten years, we will need close to 140,000 family doctors but are currently only attracting half of that number. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the number of medical school graduates entering this field has dropped over 51% in the last two decades. There are many reasons for this: the lower pay, longer days and less prestige key among them.
The country is spending quite a bit of time discussing health care and reforming the current system. If we are to truly revamp the way health care is administered in this country, we must consider all of the needs of the patients…and that includes producing qualified doctors who can serve them.
Congress should contemplate legislation that provides incentives for those who choose to become primary care physicians. Forgiving a portion of student loans for those who do is a good start. The average medical school grad owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans. Providing government funded salary increases in another option. Family care physicians typically earn less than half that of a highly specialized doctor. Along the same lines, tax breaks for family care doctors, increasing the money they take home, could also be used as an incentive.
If something isn’t done, the AAFP predicts a shortage of 40,000 family physicians by 2010. We will see longer lines in doctor’s offices and more people using the emergency room for basic care, increasing medical costs for everyone and defeating the purpose of the healthcare plan the Obama administration is working to pass.
