Want to See a Primary Care Doc in Massachusetts? Take a Number

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This is representative of the nationalized healthcare system that Democrats want to foist on us. One gets the feeling that Democrats don't read the newspapers because this is the type of health care they support.

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http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/09/22/want-to-see-a-primary-care-doc-in-massachusetts-take-a-number/

September 22, 2008, 8:39 am

Want to See a Primary Care Doc in Massachusetts? Take a Number

Posted by stein

Now that more people have health coverage in Massachusetts, they're looking to make doctor appointments. Trouble is, there aren't enough primary care doctors to go around.

In Massachusetts, the wait to see primary care docs has grown to as long as 100 days, while the number of practices accepting new patients has dipped in the past four years, according to the Boston Globe. In 2004, the average wait time was 47 days and the longest wait was 87 days, the newspaper reports.

The delays sound a cautionary note on the perils of universal health coverage: Once people have coverage, there needs to be capacity to treat them.

Kate Atkinson, a family physician in Amherst, Mass., started accepting new patients in January. By her count, 18 doctors in the area have closed their practices over the last two years, with many physicians joining the growing ranks of hospitalists.

"There were so many people waiting to get in, it was like opening the floodgates," Atkinson told the Globe. "Most of these patients hadn't seen the doctor in a long time so they had a lot of complicated problems." She closed her practice to new patients again six weeks later. "We literally have 10 calls a day from patients crying and begging."

The state has passed a series of measures to try to boost boost primary care. They include expanding medical education for aspiring primary care docs and repaying medical school loans of those who agree to work in community health centers or underserved areas.

Photo by star5112 via Flickr