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07/22/2007: "Physician "shortage" created by industry"
A national shortage of doctors is hitting poor places the hardest, and efforts to bring in foreign physicians to fill the gap are running into a knot of restrictions from the war on terror and the immigration debate.
[ As early as the 1980s, a friend of mine's father who was a doctor was advising him: Don't go into the practice. The corporate healthcare drones have gotten their hands on it, and now it's all paperwork and being unable to help people. In their urge to manage by metrics, and save a buck, they drove thousands of competent people away. Now they import them... and as recent articles indicate, quality has declined as a result. ]
Americans pay more when they get sick than people in other Western nations and get more confused, error-prone treatment, according to the largest survey to compare U.S. health care with other nations.
The survey of nearly 7,000 sick adults in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and Germany found Americans were the most likely to pay at least $1,000 in out-of-pocket expenses. More than half went without needed care because of cost and more than one-third endured mistakes and disorganized care when they did get treated.
Although patients in every nation sometimes run into obstacles to getting care and deficiencies when they do get treated, the United States stood out for having the highest error rates, most disorganized care and highest costs, the survey found.
[ The corporate-bureaucratic nightmare has driven away competent people. This is how nations die. ]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070722/ap_on_he_me/doctor_deficit;_ylt=HEIL_HITLER
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110301143. html