ObamaCare poses a problem: If all city residents had medical coverage today, there wouldn’t be enough primary-care doctors to treat them.
The shortage of family doctors is a major concern as President Obama and Congress debate expanding coverage to nearly 50 million of America’s uninsured — including 1.3 million in the Big Apple.
“In general, there’s an insufficient number of primary-care physicians in New York City,” said Louise Cohen, deputy commissioner of the city Health Department.
More than half of city neighborhoods have a significant shortage of primary-care docs, a 2006 study by the city Health and Hospitals Corp. and the Primary Care Development Corp. found.
Health-care experts — while welcoming expanded coverage — worry the city’s medical providers will be overwhelmed by a tidal wave of new patients.
Frustrated New Yorkers who can’t get a doctor’s appointment will then show up as “walk-ins” in hospital emergency rooms for a cold or an asthmatic condition — thus driving up medical costs.
There are reasons for the shortage. Primary docs’ average salary is $152,529 a year — far less than what surgeons make.
New doctors typically enter the profession with crushing debt, so more are opting to become specialists.
Better pay and other incentives for primary-care physicians — including expansion of loan forgiveness programs — must be part of the overhaul, said Dr. Herbert Pardes, president of Presbyterian Hospital and Health Care system.
“We need them all. We need the primary-care doctors when we need them. We need the surgeons when they need them,” Pardes said.
Obama and lawmakers insist the health-care makeover will include adequate funds for primary care.
Meanwhile, Gov. Paterson has steered more funding to primary care. Family doctors received a 40 percent increase in Medicaid payments, and those in underserved areas got an additional 10 percent hike.
The state this year also set aside $6.8 million for its “Doctors Across New York” program that wipes out up to $150,000 in school loans for doctors who practice primary care.