CBS news asks Will Insurance Alone Cure What Ails Us?

Insuring All Americans Won't Help if There Is a Shortage of Primary Care Doctors

By Sanjay Gupta

President Obama says everyone should be required to have health insurance, much like car insurance. Is Massachusetts' mandatory health insurance laws on the right track?

(CBS) Baystate Medical Center is the second busiest emergency room in Massachusetts. They treat over 100,000 patients a year, but here's the thing: according to Dr. Niels Rathlev, who runs the ER, a quarter of them don't need his services.

"Well I think the way I would phrase it is to say I think that there are alternate sites of care that would be more appropriate," Rathlev said.

He means a doctor's office - a primary care doctor's office, reports CBS News contributing medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

"The majority of patients who are frequent utilizers of the emergency department actually have insurance," Rathlev said. "They have a primary care physician, but they choose to come to the ER because they don't have access."

Like Kenneth Mills, who is in pain from a bowling injury.
"I went and called my doctor this morning," Mills said. "But I wouldn't be able to get in to see him."

Mills is bruised, not broken, and could have easily been treated outside the ER.
Well, I wish I had a primary I could just call and come in and I wouldn't have to wait as long," Mills said.

That's the issue: There aren't enough doctors.
the Department of Health and Human Services, we're more than 16,000 primary care doctors short in The United States.

I've been in practice for 10 years and I still owe $60,000 in student loans," said Dr. Kate Atkinson from Amherst, Mass.

The reality here is that Atkinson and her nurse practitioner treat 3,000 patients, but filling out hundreds of different forms takes a staff of 11- so she simply can't make ends meet.

Gupta thinks money plays a role. There has also been discussions of medical school loan forgiveness programs, which might help. But it's also the paperwork - it makes it hard for primary care physicians to get work done.