DOCTOR SHORTAGE COULD WORSEN

A recent article by USA today talks about the fact that the U.S. suffers from a significant Doctor shortage and it is about to get much worse.
The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts that by 2020, the shortage will amount to more than 90,000 doctors, including 45,000 patient care physicians. The shortage is expected to worsen as the boom generation is getting older and will require more medical care in the near future and the new healthcare mandate would add more people to the patient pool. To make matters worse, a third of all doctors plan to retire this decade.
Generally, the states with high median incomes tend to have more doctors per capita, while poorer states tend to have substantially fewer because they are less attractive to doctors.
This is why expanding immigration programs for foreign doctors is a key in alleviating this shortage. Expanding the Conrad 30 program (where more than double the spaces are needed in most states), creating more federal programs (such as the USDA had but closed) and increasing the H-1B quota will help make the U.S. more attractive for foreign doctors.
Read the full article at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/10/20/doctors-shortage-least-most/1644837/