Is there a doctor in the house? Not enough physicians, lawmakers say
There is a growing medical crisis in the U.S. having to do with a shortage of doctors, according to a group of lawmakers, who said the problem will become a full-blown emergency unless something is done about it.
Both U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm (R-C-Brooklyn-Staten Island) and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat, are part of a group of bipartisan legislators who have re-introduced a bill that would increase the number of physicians whose medical training is funded by Medicare.
The Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2013 was sponsored in the House by Grimm and U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens) and in the Senate by Schumer, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida). The bill would expand the current cap on the number of Medicare-supported training slots for doctors, according to Grimm, who said it would help to ensure that teaching hospitals can meet the growing demands for physicians. The number of training slots would be expanded to 15,000 (3,000 slots a year over a period of five years). That would bring the total number of slots available to 102,000.