Hey, Congressperson: who needs doctors?

A recent survey indicates that 2 of every 3 practicing physicians oppose the health-care reform plans under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted. Four of nine doctors, or 45%, said they "would consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement" if Congress passes such a plan. The U.S. today has just 2.4 physicians per 1,000 residents, below the median of 3.1 for member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The number of U. S. doctors is already lagging population growth. From 2003 to 2006, the number of active physicians in the U.S. grew by just 0.8% a year, versus overall population growth of 1% a year. Patients, in short, are already being added faster than physicians, creating a medical bottleneck. And the plans being proposed by Congress the President Obama envision adding at least 30,000,000 people to the insurance rolls, while doing nothing about the doctor shortage—in fact, exacerbating the shortage greatly if indeed many doctors give up and quit their practice. Will you vote for a health-care reform bill that promotes a critical shortage of doctors?