An analysis by the Assocation of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) concludes that by the year 2020, there will be a shortage of more than 90,000 doctors. The organization finds the cause, in part, to be the passage of Barack Obama's health care law. Yet, when Good Morning America briefly covered this story on Wednesday, there was no mention of ObamaCare.
Josh Elliott insisted, "A national medical group says there's currently a shortage of more than 13,000 doctors across the United States. And the group warns that over the next decade, that shortage will grow to be ten-times worse as the population ages and more doctors retire." USA Today, however, explained, "The newly enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will soon require most people to obtain health insurance, leading millions more to seek care."
Once more people are insured under the Affordable Care Act that emphasizes preventative care, “the wait times that are bad now will increase tremendously,” said Howard Baron, a former president of the Clark County Medical Society in Las Vegas.
“We are trading one issue, the lack of coverage, for another,” Baron, who is a pediatric gastroenterologist, said in an interview. “Everyone should be covered, but you have to understand what the consequences of this are.”
The passage of health care reform, while setting in motion long-overdue efforts to insure an additional 32 million Americans, will increase the need for doctors and exacerbate a physician shortage driven by the rapid expansion of the number of Americans over age 65.
Yet, regardless of that fact, clearly the health care law is playing a part in the doctor shortage crisis. It would have been nice for GMA's Elliott to at least mention this.
CBS This Morning and NBC's Today ignored the report entirely.
A transcript of the October 24th news brief can be found below:
8:03
JOSH ELLIOTT: And a new warning today about what could become a crisis in the U.S. health care system. A shortage of doctors. A national medical group says there's currently a shortage of more than 13,000 doctors across the United States. And the group warns that over the next decade, that shortage will grow to be ten-times worse as the population ages and more doctors retire.
