Wait a second… Did you actually just tell me that, to see a model of any government program working, I should look at how they treat Native Americans? Love ya, Elliott, but are you sure you want to remind people of other colossal US government fuck-ups?

If there were some sort of Urban Health System, I’m sure that you would get far fewer Main Line GPs, and more urban docs. Reason being: Docs (like all other service providers) go where the money is.

Okay, but I was referring back to low-income urban areas as an example I previously mentioned, about people already bogging down the health care system with endless amounts of bullshit. I used low-income areas because that’s what my source has experience with, and therefore I could better pick his brain for it.

Here, let me use another example: It’s already hellish to try to get an appointment at my GP within 48 hours; frankly, from going there for 20+ years, I know it’s because the place has an influx of Medicare patients who simply tie up appointments. Why not? If I had state paid health insurance, I’d get every damn check up I was eligible for. It wouldn’t be because of a newfound concern for my health; it’s because I’m not paying out of pocket for it. (Hell, right now, I wouldn’t be paying for it period.)

What’s going to happen if socialized health care goes through? There obviously aren’t enough people becoming doctors to fill that niche. In that area, a new GP practice could come in, easily take half their business, and everyone would still live comfortably. (There’s probably enough business there that each office could have the same if not close to the same amount of business as my GP.) Yet, no one’s moving into that same area at warp speed.

It doesn’t add up. It would lead me to believe that there’s more than just “going where the money is.” You mentioned education, which has way more of an impact on the supply end of things. Most people aren’t becoming full-fledged doctors until they’re about our ages. It’s not as if you can become a doctor in the same time it takes to earn an Associate’s degree. So despite the fact loan forgiveness programs might encourage more people to become doctors, how will that impact the short-term goals?

In other words, if there are so few GP’s in an area that only 200 people can be seen every month, which already results in an average 3 week wait for an appointment but suddenly 600 people in the town have insurance, then how on Earth will the system not get backlogged? How do loan forgiveness programs lessen the seven (or more) years it takes before someone can actually begin practicing medicine? How will the system not remain backlogged during that time they are waiting for people – like yourself – who would have never become doctors unless it were for loan forgiveness programs?

Honestly, I think that programs like the one you’re proposing and Teach for America are the absolutely worst reasons to considering becoming a doctor or teacher. I especially detest Teach for America, whose whole shtick seems to be “Don’t have a job? Come join Teach for America! It’s not as if teaching requires any skills at all!” Right, because the public school system totally needs kids who just want a paycheck instead of people who know the first thing about education or child psychology.

As for your last point, I think you misread when Marc was saying. More often than not, the people who are wasting hospital resources are those with insurance, usually state-funded insurance – i.e., Medicaid – not the uninsured. That is completely contrary to your last point. There is no reason why an ambulance should be tied up because it never occurred to some fucking idiot that “911 shouldn’t be called because I have a headache and the Tylenol I took 4-6 hours ago has worn off,” and neither EMTs nor medics are allowed to diagnose anyone in the field. So they can’t legally refuse treatment to someone even if you or I could see that it’s a bullshit 911 call.

There’s something fucked up with that. I get that the law was designed to protect people, but it really wasn’t designed so everyone on the damn planet can waste emergency resources. And yeah, calling 911 because you stubbed your toe or a vitamin got stuck in your throat while someone across town is bleeding in a back alley from a stabbing wound is bullshit. I just fail to see how this shit will not increase once a public health plan goes through.

Not having to worry about payment of bills would also help prevent what the 1st poster talks about.

Government creates the problem them promptly offers the cure. No thanks.