How Could A Shortage of Doctors Affect Your Health Care? | Get ...

There was some very grim news that recently came out of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Will it be harder to see a doctor in the coming years?

Most Americans don?t have problems seeing their doctor, or a specialist when they need to. As such, most Americans may be totally are unaware of the doctor shortage that the United States is facing.

Scary numbers:

• We have 15,000 fewer doctors today in America than we need to treat our current population, according to an assessment by the Department of Health and Human Services.
• By 2015 that shortage will grow to 62,900, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
• And, by 2025 that number will grow to 159,000 physicians by 2025, according to the same estimate.

?What does health care reform do to change that?

Many experts blame the rapidly increasing doctor shortage on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which gives health insurance to more than 30 million new people ?starting in 2014. About 15 million of that 30 million will be eligible for Medicaid. This massive increase in demand for health care from the currently uninsured will not be met with a comparable increase in the supply of doctors. And, when that is combined with the shortage we already have, some people argue that the ACA is only making the problem worse.

The government has taken measures to increase the number of doctors, but it has not been enough to increase the supply of physicians.

What does the Affordable Care Act do?

• The ACA increases Medicaid reimbursements to primary care physicians in the coming years
• Sets aside budgets for doctor training
• Rewards doctors who care for undeserved communities
• Supports community health centers

But, all of these actions are only expected to result in 3,000 new primary care doctors over the next ten years, which is far less than the 45,000 we would need to meet the growing demand.

How does this impact Young People on Private Insurance and Older People on Medicare?

Millions of younger Americans will gain health insurance as a result of the Affordable Care Act, either through private insurance or Medicaid. And, the baby boomer generation is going to grow the number of people on Medicare from about 45 million today, to an estimated 73 million by 2025.

As we age, we typically require more care than younger healthier people. And, to make matters worse, the obesity epidemic is likely to lead to an increase in chronic health conditions like diabetes and heart disease among all age groups.

Medicare also contributes to the shortage in physicians because the residency program designed to train doctors, is largely financed by Medicare. In 1997, Congress passed the Balanced Budget Amendment, which essentially capped government funding for residencies. That funding level has not changed for the past 15 years. And, it?s not easy to increase the number of tax-payer financed training programs because our country is already borrowing $1 trillion a year.

Other factors contributing to the shortage of doctors:

• It takes 10 years to train a doctor, but we?re adding about 4 million baby boomers to Medicare each year and 30 million uninsured in 2014
• On average, younger doctors work fewer hours than their predecessors.
• About one-third of America?s doctors are over the age of 55, which means many will retire in the next decade.

What can you expect from the doctor shortage?

Many experts refer to the doctor shortage as ?the invisible problem.? Up to now, the changes have been gradual. But, as the time it takes to see a doctor and receive care becomes slower and more difficult, the problem will become increasingly visible.

The end results may be that it takes longer to see a doctor, or that people have to drive long distances to see a primary care physician. We may also see people having to be placed on waiting lists to receive medical care.

Folks on Medicare and Medicaid may have an even greater challenge finding doctors who will accept Medicare and participating doctors who are willing to accept Medicare assignment as the full payment for services rendered.

Given the ever-increasing disparity between government and commercial rates of reimbursement, doctors are limiting the number of Medicare and Medicaid patients thy can treat. The law of supply and demand suggests that without a government subsidy, physician access will be further limited for Medicare and Medicaid patients.

Doctors who reported that they could no longer accept new Medicare patients included 43% of adult psychiatrists, 27% of internists and generalists, 25% of family practitioners and 24% of ob-gyns, according to a survey by Jackson Healthcare.

The New York Times and Bloomberg also covered this story.

OTHER SOURCES VIEWED

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/health/policy/too-few-doctors-in-many-us-communities.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/opinion/a-doctor-shortage-and-the-health-law.html

http://www.hhnmag.com/hhnmag/HHNDaily/HHNDailyDisplay.dhtml?id=1290001114

https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/presskits/physician_workforce/

http://www.healthtechzone.com/topics/healthcare/articles/2012/08/30/305641-doctor-shortage-could-be-eliminated-if-residency-cap.htm

Medicare has not reviewed or endorsed this information.

Source: http://blog.ehealthinsurance.com/2012/09/could-a-shortage-of-doctors-affect-your-health-care/

mario balotelli jenny mccarthy espn3