America Doesn't Have Enough Doctors: Where's the Money?

I did an appearance last night on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 to discuss the issue of Health care reform. This has been heavy on the mind of our president for his entire first year in office and has led to quite a few political battles on Capitol Hill. Health care is in serious jeopardy, as the cost of entitlement programs such as Medicaid/Medicare and Social Security threaten our nation's economic security. Our national debt has risen to unprecedented and frightening levels, and our politicians have little incentive to do anything about it.

One additional problem that we are running into on the issue of health care is the fact that our nation doesn't have enough Primary Care physicians. These doctors are incredibly important, since they are the first line of defense against illness in America.

Over the next 10 years, our nation is expected to have a shortfall of 40,000 Primary Care doctors. By 2025, that number is expected to balloon to over 120,000. To make matters worse, our population is aging, implying that there will be a greater demand for these doctors in the future.

Many physicians are turned away from primary care because the salaries are far lower than those of specialists, who typically earn over $350,000 per year. Primary Care doctors, on the other hand, have an average salary of $173,000. Additionally, there is reduced prestige for those who engage in Primary Care, which is considered to be the field that students enter into when they aren't smart enough to do anything else. I personally disagree with this assessment, since the job of the Primary Care physician is one of the most important medical endeavors in our society.

The question I asked Dr. Sanjay Gupta last night was simple: "Where's the money?" The pharmaceutical industry was the third most profitable industry in the world last year, and the health insurance industry was also in the top 10. Humana, a large hospital chain made $30 billion dollars in revenue last year, and over one billion in profits. In fact, Health Insurance companies posted record profits last year, in the middle of one of the deepest recessions in American history.

The point in discussing revenues and profits was to toss aside the idea that our government should take on the burdensome financial challenge of providing higher compensation to primary care doctors. The truth is that the health care industry can afford to provide additional compensation to these doctors, pay off their student loans and do all that is necessary to give them incentives to stay in the profession. For some reason, our government has backed away from the idea of allowing big insurance and pharmaceutical companies to take on this financial challenge. There must be across the board accountability for who profits and loses in this massive health care industry. Given that Americans spend as much money on health care as the GDP of India, we have no shortage of financial solutions to this very serious problem. It's now time for us to show the courage necessary to make legitimate reforms.

The video from AC 360 is below. Enjoy!