| While flipping channels, I came across an episode | | | | insurance companies are then forced to pay for |
| of the new Melrose Place series. Surprisingly, a | | | | the same procedure twice. A handful of doctors |
| plot line in the episode made me think about the | | | | may become desperate enough to go against |
| cost of health care in America. One of the main | | | | their ethics, such as the Hippocratic Oath. |
| characters, Lauren Bishop, is a student in medical | | | | Unfortunately, while the fictional Lauren's scenario |
| school. She is dedicated to medicine and excels in | | | | is rare, other doctors may feel entitled to break |
| her classes, but financial strife jeopardizes her | | | | their moral code by accepting kickbacks from |
| education. This is an all-too-common scenario in | | | | pharmaceutical companies or defrauding insurance |
| real life; crushing student loans and the lack of | | | | companies. Both of those actions are responsible |
| ability to pay have led to a shortage in primary | | | | for billions of dollars in wasted healthcare costs |
| care physicians. There are fewer family doctors | | | | each year, passed on to you in your health |
| available to offer preventative care; this results in | | | | insurance quote. |
| more patients resorting to expensive specialists or | | | | Changing the current medical school system would |
| emergency rooms with serious ailments that could | | | | allow more general doctors to make a good living |
| have been nipped in the bud if properly monitored. | | | | with lower salaries, reducing the cost of |
| Health insurers and their patients must cover the | | | | healthcare reform in the long run. Costs would |
| increased costs of this. | | | | decrease due to an increased supply of doctors, |
| The case of Melrose's Lauren is an extreme | | | | as opposed to direct government involvement in |
| example of the need to include educational | | | | determining doctors' salaries. What can we do to |
| support in any healthcare reform bill. After a | | | | improve this situation? |
| mix-up at the financial aid office, her medical | | | | - The government can offer more grants and |
| school informs her that she will be kicked out if | | | | scholarships to deserving medical students. |
| she can't pay them $25,000 by the end of the | | | | Non-for-profit charities, corporations, and |
| semester. Lauren is now out of options, and--this | | | | individuals could do the same. If we want more |
| being a nighttime soap--she reluctantly becomes | | | | primary care doctors (who have been proven to |
| an escort to fund her dream. While obviously a | | | | save the health insurance industry money in the |
| dramatization, the show is unusually realistic in its | | | | long run), they must be encouraged. Financial aid |
| portrayal of struggling med school students and | | | | forms should be made as easy to understand as |
| the financial hardships they often face. How does | | | | possible; and loans should be considered as a last |
| this affect your health insurance costs? There are | | | | resort, not expected to cover the majority of |
| several ways in which this happens. | | | | med school expenses. |
| Physicians who must take out hundreds of | | | | - More state medical schools should be opened. A |
| thousands of dollars in student loans to attend | | | | medical school associated with a public university |
| pre-med programs and medical schools must earn | | | | could educate future doctors for under $100,000, |
| higher salaries to compensate. A primary | | | | significantly less than a private medical school. |
| argument in favor of healthcare reform, especially | | | | These students can take out fewer loans, |
| the public option, is that the federal government | | | | reducing the incentive for them to neglect general |
| would be able to use its clout and size to lower | | | | medicine in favor of more lucrative specialties. |
| reimbursement rates across the board. Ideally, | | | | Moreover, many of the recently approved public |
| the savings would be passed on to taxpayers. | | | | medical schools have special programs focused on |
| Medicare and Medicaid use a similar method, but it | | | | providing healthcare to underserved communities. |
| has not been without objections from doctors. | | | | - While these changes would be effective to |
| The lower payments they receive from these | | | | those students still in the pipeline, what about the |
| public health insurance plans don't allow them to | | | | doctors who are currently practicing? Loan |
| pay off their debts within a reasonable period of | | | | forgiveness could be offered to primary care |
| time. An increasing number of doctors have either | | | | physicians or other physicians in underserved |
| limited the number of Medicare or Medicaid | | | | fields. Right now, even bankruptcy doesn't |
| patients they serve, or refused to take them | | | | eliminate their student loans. As a further |
| altogether. A related phenomenon is the trend of | | | | incentive, the amount of the forgiven loans should |
| medical school graduates choosing to enter a | | | | be tax-free. This policy would also result in |
| specialty, as opposed to becoming primary care | | | | increased savings for both public and private |
| physicians. Most medical specialists make more | | | | health insurance plans, while allowing for-profit |
| money while working fewer hours, enabling them | | | | insurers a greater ability to compete with a public |
| to pay off their debts quickly. This logical decision | | | | option. |
| is another factor in the shortage of primary care | | | | We lose many potentially excellent doctors every |
| doctors. Basic economics states that when supply | | | | year due to financial concerns. Some drop out of |
| is lower than demand, the price must rise to | | | | medical school because they are unable to pay to |
| reach equilibrium. Therefore, the doctors who are | | | | complete their education, while others look at the |
| practicing general medicine must be paid more. | | | | increasingly immense cost and forgo medical |
| In addition, potential doctors who must work | | | | school altogether. Those who do become doctors |
| multiple jobs to support their education (or | | | | will be highly paid, but saddled with over a quarter |
| low-paying residencies afterward), as well as | | | | of a million dollars of student loan debt in some |
| current doctors stressed from large loan | | | | cases. Medical education must be reformed. Doing |
| payments, may see the quality of their care | | | | so will lead to consumers receiving lower health |
| suffer. Other doctors and hospitals must make up | | | | insurance quotes , increased healthcare access for |
| for any errors made when this happens. Health | | | | all, and a healthier nation. |