(02-13-2020, 12:09 PM)JagNGeorgia Wrote:

(02-12-2020, 10:09 PM)mikesez Wrote: 5) the medical schools rely on Federal loans to their students, and the teaching hospitals rely on Medicare.  States (with their licensing boards) rely on the feds for medicaid..  If Congress wanted to, it would be very simple to take money away from schools and hospitals and states that refuse to train and license more doctors, and give it and more to those that do not refuse. I'm not saying that the Feds should be so involved in funding medical care, but they are already.  They should leverage this to get medical prices down not just for themselves but for all of us.

I’m not sure what you think this would do. Teaching hospitals are simple for doctors to get into. Many don’t directly hire the doctors anyway; the hire a company that has doctors on staff, and the hospital simply extends privileges to them. 

There’s already a minimum requirement that doctors and nurses must meet. Lowering that requirement would lower the quality of service and increase liability in malpractice. More doctors also mean that your bill will be higher. Your bill isn’t only paying for the one doctor you see. The hospital still has to cover the costs of being forced to hire more doctors than it needs. 

There are ways to lower medical costs but hiring more doctors is not one of them.

I mean the teaching hospitals should take on more residents, fresh out of med school.  I'm under the impression that teaching hospitals hire residents directly. Whoever hires them, should be incentivized to hire more.  
More residents become more licensed doctors.
More licensed doctors means more supply. 
More supply for the same demand means lower unit cost

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