It seems by the time President Obama leaves office in 2017, he will have wreaked as much havoc as his predecessor: enormous debt levels, an enhanced surveillance program, an increased drone strikes initiative, an even more inefficient federal government and the disastrous Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare.
Aside from transforming the United States into a part-time jobs nation and the rollout of Healthcare.gov becoming a complete failure, there is another consequence that the U.S. has to face in the future: a doctor shortage.
Economic Collapse News reported last month on the threat of a doctor shortage, but another report has been published that should be highlighted. Within the next 10 years, the country will need more than 52,000 primary care physicians in order to meet the demand of millions of more patients but the system is facing extreme inadequacies.
At the current time, the U.S. is already facing a shortage of 20,000 doctors and fewer than one-quarter of new doctors have become physicians, while older doctors are starting to enter into retirement – the American Medical Association (AMA) also notes that there will be a nursing shortage soon. Another concern that many have is the fact that Obamacare will lead to centralized medicine and then force small independent doctors out of the marketplace.
Just think of this one medical veteran who practiced for nearly six decades. Dr. Russell Dohner recently garnered national media attention for his fee: $5 per office visit, which has been the standard price since the 1970s. In the future, Dr. Dohner and others like him may not exist in a centralized medical care system.
One of the growing trends of the current healthcare system is the establishment of urgent care clinics. Due to inevitable entitlement reforms, the lack of access to hospitals and physicians and the economic collapse, the trend is suggesting the expansion of urgent care facilities. Close to 10,000 immediate care clinics are in operation and there is annual growth of as much as 10 percent.
Heck, these kinds of clinics can also be found in big-box stores like Walmart and Target. With investments from these multi-billion-dollar corporations, urgent care clinics are starting to offer similar services that can be found in a hospital, such as X-rays for broken bones and extensive testing for common illnesses.
In the end, Obamacare will hurt more people than it will help, whether it’s financially or the quality of their healthcare. What needs to happen is a transition to a free market system, much like what Dr. Dohner maintained for many years: patient meets doctor, pays a fee and receives quality care. Instead, doctors will have to face more paperwork, more red tape and more headaches.
Is it worth it becoming a doctor in the future?
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