Doctor Shortage? Unlikely. Last month the New York Times wrote an article about what could

be a potential problem, a doctor shortage. The article is in response

to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) that there

will be a need for over 130,000 doctors within the next decade

making wait times longer and

less care time with each

patient.

Skepticism has ensued based

on the report.

The New York Times believes that while the ObamaCare has started

with plenty of hiccups that a doctor shortage would be unlikely.

Why?

• Americans 65 or older will increase from 12% to 19% by 2030

• More than 30 million Americans will be insured under

ObamaCare by the end of 2024

These two facts will not only in theory prevent a shortage of

physicians but actually make a cause for more. As it stands right

now per 1,000 Americans there are 2.4 physicians. To keep this

ratio up that means that over 90,000 doctors will need to be hired

from now until 2020.

However, these are all just predictions.

In 2006 Massachusetts incorporated ObamaCare early for 400,000

Americans. In this time the wait times and care times bounced back

and forth and there was no clear outline as to whether the

ObamaCare made a difference in these factors.

With little data to use from the Massachusetts experiment there

needs to be more reasons why those who believe there won’t be a

shortage to stand firm with their decision.

Enter the machine.

Doctors are becoming less of an operator role for machines in the

medical field than they are becoming more of a partner role.

Machines in the medical field, when programmed correctly, can do

many procedures or tests on their own.

The New York Times’ article mentions sensors that can find

diseases. Drugs when taken with certain devices can cut down on

the amount of treatment time. And laparoscopic surgeries can be

done with minimal invasiveness.

The population is getting older and the dynamic is changing. The

truth is there could be a physician shortage but with no revealing

data it is hard to tell whether there will be one or not.