America's Medical Mess: Economic Solution

The medical crisis in America in all its manifestations is all due to one underlying problem: There are not enough doctors. And no solution is going to be adequate until this problem is fixed.

The low number of doctors limits supply of medical care. This causes three problems at once. First, according to simple mathematics and economics, low supply amid growing demand means exhorbitantly high prices. Secondly, low number of doctors means that the doctors are overworked, and overworked people make mistakes that they would not make under normal conditions. This results in disastrous errors that kill or cripple the patient. Thirdly, because of these mistakes, there is huge amount of malpractice lawsuits; which mean high insurance prices for doctors, which either have to be absorbed by doctors themselves, or passed down to the patient in high costs.

All these problems - high prices, medical errors, and huge malpractice insurance costs - have been the bane of American medicine in recent decades. And only by addressing the problem at the root, can any meaningful or lasting solution be effectuated.

How can this then be solved? How can America increase its number of medical professionals? There are two possible directions to take, and I believe both are rightful. One, is to tap into supply of medical professionals abroad or from abroad. The other, is to increase the number of domestic doctors.

The first is already taking place, as people are going to Canada, India or Russia for operations. And they are right. In countries where there are adequate doctors who do not earn enough money at home, Americans going for operations or treatment gives these doctors a better way to make a living and rewards their skill and their work, while also allowing American people treatment for lower price and with less wait. But unless America is to see its domestic medical system whittle away, there needs to be a greater number of doctors at home, which means a greater number of foreign doctors licensed to practice in America, as well as a greater number of domestic medical school admissions and graduations.

The first can be accomplished by creating an intelligent licensing system that ensures quality without being needlessly lengthy and bureuacratic. But the more important solution is to increase the number of doctors being graduated at home. And there are three problems that are contributing to the artificially low number of doctors being graduated: Small number of medical schools, outrageous tuition prices, and ridiculously high requirements for getting in.

One does not need to have 4.0 GPA in undergraduate school to become a good doctor. Nor should one have to pay $300,000 to become one. And the prohibitively high price, prohibitively high admission standards, and low number of spots in the medical school admissions, are the three main contributing factors for the shortage of medical doctors in America.

The solution to the preceding, is to increase the number of medical school admissions by reducing requirements and by increasing the number of medical schools. The more medical schools, the greater the number of medical school admissions. Furthermore, with greater number of medical schools, there will be adequate competition among them, leading to reduced tuition costs. This will open the door for many promising students, many of whom either cannot afford medical school financially or cannot get in because of artificially small number of spots in the school. And that by itself should solve the crisis of inadequate number of doctors and the resulting inevitable wrongs.

While socialist solutions can alleviate the strain for the patients, it is only by addressing the structural problem that the situation can be resolved in a meaningful and lasting way. The solution, is to increase the number of doctors. The extent to which it is done by Americans going to foreign doctors, by America bringing in foreign doctors, or by America increasing the number of medical school admissions and graduations, will determine the extent to which other countries will get the business, to which foreigners living in America get the business, or to which Americans will get the business of American people in need of medical care.