Doctor shortage, increased demand could crash health care system

Doctor shortage, increased demand could crash health care system

Dr. Ryan A. Stanton is worried that this coming flood of newly insured patients may crash the U.S. health care system as well. Stanton works at the emergency room at the busy Georgetown Community Hospital right outside of Lexington, Kentucky.

While he sees trauma cases often, a good number of the patients he sees don’t involve trauma. They’re the uninsured who can’t afford to pay for a regular doctor’s visit — so they use the emergency room instead.

“People turn to the ER because they have no other place to go after hours or they don’t have access to a level of appropriate primary care,” Stanton said. “The ER has become the safety net of our health care system. We can’t turn anyone away like a doctor’s office could. … I worry though with (Obamacare) this will significantly increase patient volume.”

There is already a national shortage of doctors, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. We’re down about 20,000 now, and the number is expected to get worse as nearly half the nation’s physicians are over age 50 — meaning many are at or near retirement age. And it’s not just doctors who are in short supply; we also need more nurses, according to the American Medical Association.