This article is good as far as it goes, but Logan Albright does not mention how Obamacare has increased many doctors’ administrative burdens and decreased their incomes. From Albright at mises.org:
For the last five years, attempts to reform America’s health care system have focused primarily on the demand side of the market, and specifically on the market for insurance. Yet, these reforms have not achieved significant improvements in health care outcomes, nor reductions in cost. As health care specialist John C. Goodman has pointed out in Forbes, the slowed growth of health care spending in the United States is a trend that correlates most closely with supply side reforms such as the availability of health savings accounts. Reductions in spending or costs are certainly not an effect of the Affordable Care Act.
One of the most critical supply side issues in health care is the supply of qualified doctors. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the number of doctors per capita is in decline for the first time in two generations, and the American Association of Medical Colleges has predicted a shortage of 45,000 primary care physicians and 46,000 specialists by 2020.
In light of these statistics, it would seem prudent to adopt policies that streamline entry into the health care market, while keeping regulatory costs to a minimum. Regrettably, this is far from the case, with states erecting numerous barriers to would-be health care providers that contribute to the high prices and limited access currently set to cripple the American market. While some of these are familiar and even seem natural to most people, some of the ways in which governments act to restrict doctor supply will come as a surprise to many.
Monopolistic Medical Boards
We are generally brought up to believe that monopolies are bad. The very word conjures up images of tight-fisted tycoons in top hats and monocles squeezing employees and consumers alike for all they are worth. While natural monopolies resulting from superior business models get an unfairly bad rap, people’s capacity for critical thought seems to inexplicably switch off when confronted with those monopolies which are created and supported by government.
To continue reading: How Government Helped Create the Coming Doctor Shortage
The doctor shoratge is going to affect us much sooner than predicted.
The combination of doctors retiring from actively practicing medicine due to ever increasing regulations, most of which are Obamacare related, and hospitals being bought out by large hospital systems, further reducing opportunity for residency, is already leading to doctor shortages.
State medical boards and the way doctors are disciplined is another huge problem.
As an example- a Dr. I used to see was disciplined in 2011 for a DUI he got in 2001. The state medical board immediately claimed he was an alcoholic and forced him to submit to a 6 month inpatient “rehab”.
This was after multiple doctors testified on his behalf- stating that at no time was Dr x under the influence of alcohol at work, and his performance was exemplary.
His license to practice medicine was suspended for 18 months, and to this day he must call in to a state approved drug testing facility and submit urine samples upon request- all at his expense.
Urine tests are the least accurate method to test for alcohol- you would think a medical board comprised of doctors would know this.
Large hospital systems demand that their employees- doctors and nurses- falsify treatment and outcome data.
This was Cleveland Clinic and I was told the same thing by multiple doctors and nurses, one a family member.
People disgusted with large hospital systems are retiring or moving to long term care facilities.
The U.S. healthcare system will become third world level care soon- unless government gets out of healthcare and health insurance.
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