Doctors Where They’re Needed
Published: January 15, 2008 in the New York Times
Few things are more frightening than knowing you live too far away from the nearest doctor. Yet in many rural or poor urban areas there are far too few doctors to serve the community, and the problem is getting worse.
Because the federal government has done too little in recent years to encourage doctors to take these less-glamorous posts, New York and other states are looking for ways to fill the gaps in medical care. Unlike some areas, New York is not lacking in medical school graduates; there are new interns out there in droves. The problem is that after they graduate, not enough of them decide to venture into the cold north upstate or the poorest urban neighborhoods.
New York’s governor, Eliot Spitzer, has announced plans to create a kind of Peace Corps for doctors called “Doctors Across New York.” The idea is to help lure physicians into practicing in areas where a quarter of the state’s population is officially under served.
To make that happen, Mr. Spitzer wants to provide up to $150,000 in awards — for a five-year employment commitment — to help pay off medical school loans. Right now, the state offers a paltry $10,000 in loan forgiveness per year for two years served in one of these areas, barely a down payment on medical school debt that now averages up to $160,000.
Mr. Spitzer also wants to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates to doctors and clinics in these underserved areas. There could even be grants to specialists who can be persuaded to establish practices or clinics where they are most needed.
The Spitzer proposal is a good idea for New York. This program might still turn out to be little more than a stop-gap as baby boomers age and need more care — while the nation’s supply of doctors fails to keep up. The last thing patients in these underserved areas need is even more competition for expert medical care.
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