Primary Care Physicians Persuasive Essay

I am writing you this brief letter because of my concern for the shortage of primary care physicians in the United States associated with the Affordable Care Act. The Association of American Medical Colleges has brought great attention to the fact that the United States could possibly be short 46,000 to 90,000 physicians by the year 2025. 2 The reality of a shortage of primary care physicians weighs very strongly on me because of the fact that I am pursuing a career in physical therapy. If there are less primary care physicians, there will be a much larger waiting line for doctor appointments. Therefore, people will decide not to pursue a doctor's opinion simply because of the increase of waiting time.1 If patients are not accessing a primary

In my undergrad job as a physical therapy technician I have been able to view the benefits of physical therapy prior to a surgery and even in some cases the avoidance of a surgery. If patients were able to get that needed primary care they would not have to waste money on a specialty procedure. This would help to cut down on the expenditure of overall health care. In my research, I have discovered that the shortage of primary care physicians seems to be the product of the need for more federal support in order to train a larger number of doctors. The president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges, Darrell Kirch, M.D., has described that it takes at least five to ten years to train a physician.2The fact that it takes so long to become a doctor means that these professionals are leaving their training programs with large amounts of debt. Since they have to find a way to pay

As a student at Nicholls State University in my junior year as an allied health major I look forward to seeing how you and our other representatives will work together to insure the future of healthcare in our