The Doctor Is Out: Health Care Shortage Worsens

The doctor shortage that has led to longer and longer wait times for Americans is only getting worse. Now, for better or worse, it finally has some attention on Capitol Hill. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have introduced bipartisan legislation they say is aimed at solving "health care workforce shortages."

If the first step in solving a problem is admitting there is one, then this is at least a positive step. But critics say the very problem the government is looking to solve was caused by government policies. Specifically, a new report points to overregulation and interference in the doctor-patient relationship that is pushing more doctors out of the industry and disincentivizing new ones from joining. David Balat, healthcare analyst with Health Care Finance Specialists, says government has squeezed traditional family doctors out of the system. "They talk about addressing the cost of healthcare, but what do they do first? They don't go the insurance companies and reduce subsidies, they don't go to the hospitals and reduce their Medicare fees, they go to the doctors and reduce physicians' payments," he tells KTRH. "So these physicians are getting less and less over time, while dealing with more patients, more regulations, more costs."

The result is fewer medical students becoming primary care physicians, since they don't make as much as specialists. "That's why we have a crisis in the number of primary care physicians, who function as the access point for people who need to get care," says Balat. "When people can't see a doctor, they end up going to the emergency room--which is very expensive--or they just don't go at all, and that can lead to more costs down the road because problems aren't caught early."

At the same time the number of doctors is shrinking, the number of healthcare bureaucrats is headed in the opposite direction. In Texas, there are more non-physician employees in the state Health and Human Services Commission than licensed physicians. "This system hasn't helped patients, but it has been a benefit to the industry and to the government because we have more and more people with their fingers in the pot," says Balat.