I have a question regarding the "sustainability" of Obamacare. Isn't that the term we hear regarding every aspect of the future? I am almost 66 years old and odds are I may live another 15-20 years, but that's really just a hopeful guess. I have to believe there are enough physicians currently practicing medicine in the U.S. to probably manage the healthcare of most people my age and maybe enough physicians to treat most people quite a bit younger than I am for the foreseeable future. I certainly hope there will be. I saw a poll last week indicating 83% of doctors who participated in that particular poll said they are weighing their options to decide whether or not they'll stay in the medical profession but even taking all that under consideration hopefully there will still be some highly trained, dedicated, physicians available...for awhile!
When do young people begin thinking about future careers? Some obviously feel drawn to medical careers as early as high school; others decide to make the long and demanding commitment to becoming doctors in their early college days. They have a lot to consider, don't they? It's not going to be easy and it's not going to be cheap to become a doctor and most young people who are intelligent enough to consider becoming healthcare professionals are undoubtedly bright enough to consider a lot of various career options. Some even start down the road to becoming physicians but for varying reasons have a change of heart, drop out and pursue other careers. I don't believe any of us know a doctor who has merrily waltzed through the years between high school or college to opening a private practice but don't we all respect and appreciate that young people still are drawn to medical careers? How else is medical care sustained?
So, that being said, what's going to happen when bright, young, American students weigh their options and ask themselves do they basically want to work for the government for forty years or so? Do they want or can they handle the additional stress and demands of government bureaucracy? They may wonder how the prospect of limiting office visits or denying tests or even denying care or the frustration of countless other restrictions is going to allow them to be the doctors they want to be AND if they can't follow their hearts and be the doctors they want to be, do they want to be anything less? Do they really want to commit to government-run healthcare careers or not?
I say all this to make one point. All we hear is that Obamacare with it's 2,700 pages of rules and regulations is going to guarantee top-notch healthcare for everyone from now on. Is it? Is it really? What if ultimately it means much less healthcare for everyone? Right now I don't think there is anyway to force a young person to become a physician so who will administer America's healthcare in the future, who will be our doctors? Who will be there when a baby born today gets sick or injured fifteen to twenty years from now or needs cancer treatment or open heart surgery forty or fifty years from now?
If the beginning of Obamacare sets in motion a mindset among our bright young students who are considering healthcare careers that ultimately leads them in other directions, who will be there to manage healthcare for anybody in the long term? How will healthcare sustain itself?
Some laughingly observe that death panels will choose what kind of healthcare elderly Americans receive in the future but if there are significantly less bright young people choosing medical careers in the next few years, it won't be the old folks beating the bushes for doctors, it'll be today's children who, as adults with young families, will have limited access to healthcare.
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