"Let's Welcome the Doctor Glut"

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1991. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

"Let's Welcome the Doctor Glut"

Journal of Commerce (05/15/91), P. 12A
Greenberg, Daniel S.

Abstract: Lately, news of a "doctor glut" has economists wringing their hands over perceived further increases in medical spending resulting from a surplus of physicians, writes Daniel S. Greenberg, the editor and publisher of Science + Government Report, who comments that this is a non-problem. Patients report long delays in waiting rooms and doctor shortages in inner cities and rural areas are widely reported. Increasing populations of elderly will ensure that a "doctor glut" will not materialize to worsen an already record-breaking health-care cost problem, as will diseases like AIDS, which place an unanticipated "massive burden" on the health-care system. Until waiting rooms are empty and inner cities and rural towns have plenty of doctors, there is no doctor glut, according to Greenberg, who adds that the law of supply and demand says too many doctors would result in lower costs and better service.

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