Opponents, critics and even some supporters of health care reform continue to speculate on potential glitches in the delivery of health care to the millions of Americans who otherwise would have gone without access to medical care. The latest gloom and doom prediction is that national health care reform will cause longer waits and add to the existing problem of overcrowding in hospital emergency rooms because of a perceived shortage of primary care or family physicians.

Is this true? Why aren’t there enough primary care physicians to go around?

One of the biggest reasons is that fewer and fewer medical students are choosing that field of medicine. “Family doctors” work longer hours for less money than most other specialties. These days, young doctors graduate medical school with $120,000.00 or more in student loans or debt, which makes the higher salaries offered to surgeons and other specialists more appealing. It is especially tempting to go into sub-specialties such as sports medicine that mostly serve the financially secure and well-insured patients.

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