Family Life

04.14.10 | FL News Team

A medical association warns the U.S. faces a severe shortage of doctors because of the recently passed healthcare reform law. The Association of American Medical Colleges says there won't be enough doctors to treat the millions of people newly insured under the law. The organization says at current graduation and training rates, the nation could face a shortage of as many as 150-thousand doctors in the next 15 years. That, it says, could lead to a shortage of primary-care and other physicians and could mean more limited access to health care and longer wait times for patients.

 The "Wall Street Journal" reports medical schools are having a hard time keeping up with training new doctors, especially primary-care physicians. The shortfall is predicted despite a push by teaching hospitals and medical schools to boost the number of U.S. doctors, which now totals about 954-thousand nationwide.