Severe Doctor Shortage by 2020
May Increase US Lifespan

Finding convenient, quality healthcare may soon be a frequent problem among American citizens, as a severe shortage of available physicians in the United States has been predicted. Several new studies explain that with 79 million baby boomers reaching retirement age and demanding more medical care, the shortage will worsen save the nation starts producing more doctors.

In fact, unless action is taken soon, the nation will experience a projected shortage of 85,000-200,000 doctors come 2020.

According to the studies, the country needs to train 3,000-10,000 more physicians a year, which is up from the current 25,000, to meet the growing medical needs of the nation. However, seeing as though it takes 10 years to train a doctor, officials worry that is not enough time to prevent a drought. Particularly scarce are old-fashioned doctors, including:

General surgeons
Radiologists
Anesthesiologists

Major Contrast From 1994 Overabundance Prediction
The shortage is an extreme turn around from earlier predictions: In 1994 the Journal of the American Medical Association predicted an excess of 165,000 doctors by 2000, which is a far cry from current statistics. America has about 800,000 active physicians, which is up from 500,000 20 years ago; however, unless more medical students begin their 10-year training soon, the supply will begin to diminish within a decade, when doctors from the baby boomer generation retire in massive quantities.

What's more, even the American Medical Association (AMA)--the influential lobbying group for physicians--has deserted its long-standing position that an "over-supply exists or is immediately expected." Because of this earlier predicted glut of doctors, the United States stopped opening medical schools in the 1980s; it seems such predictions were made in error and are resulting in a negative effect on the country.

The Real Problem? Poor Distribution, Not Scarcity
Some medical policy specialists explain that the shortage scare of doctors in the United States is not an issue concerning too few doctors, but simply poor distribution of them. In fact, one critic claimed the problem stems from:
· More and more physicians taking care of fewer and fewer patients
· Doctors gravitating to high-paying practices, such as sports medicine and total body scans, that only serve the wealthy and well insured at the expense of Medicare patients and others
USA Today, 2nd March 2005

DR MERCOLA'S COMMENT: Last year I wrote an article on Why Death Rates Decrease When Doctors Go on Strike. It might be hard to believe, but the facts speak quite strongly.

Moreover, five years ago the Israel Medical Association went on strike for two months to protest against their treasury's imposition of a new four-year wage contract for physicians, which devastated Israel's funeral industry, as there was a dramatic fall in the death rate. This unplanned study is an amazing testimony as to the power of conventional medicine to accelerate the death rate.

The majority of conventional medicine is focused on using drugs and surgical band-aids rather than addressing the foundational causes of disease. This focus has actually caused the conventional medical paradigm to be the leading cause of death in the US. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could combine the best of conventional medicine, which is clearly the acute care emergency trauma medicine skills, with natural medicine?
www.mercola.com