Does the lack of supply of medical care contribute to the high cost of medical care?
Posted January 21st, 2009 by admin 1 Comment »
I’ve asked similar questions, but never got the right answers, so I assume I’m not asking the right questions. So I’m trying again. I’ve read that the AMA limits the number of new doctors coming into the system each year, but previous questions I’ve asked seem to not support that claim, and according to the answers I’ve recieved, the AMA doesn’t limit the number of doctors. But the fact remains that medical care is astronomical, and logic would support the theory that if we had more doctors, cost would go down. So the questions I am now looking at are as follows:
If we had more doctors in the country, would cost go down? I think that the logical answer would be yes. More competition means better quality at lower prices.
Who or what is limiting the number of doctors in America? I’ve read a few times it’s the AMA, but that seems to not be the case. I’ve been told that medical schools and residency programs do limit the number of trainees, and that specific medical specialty boards may be involved in those decisions. This is a foreign language to me. What’s a residency program, how does it affect the number of doctors in America, who is behind this decision, and what would have to happen to ceize this practice?
Please be thorough in your answers! I’ve spent hours trying to research this. Who is limiting the number of doctors in America, thereby increasing the cost of healthcare? If it’s residency programs, explain what that is, who runs it, how many there are, how they limit the number of doctors in America, and why they do so!