Was any consideration given to the high debt burden facing most young physicians, their exceptionally long training requirements, the onerous litigation environment in the United States or even the hours physicians work? Physician salaries are neither the fastest growing nor the largest expenditures in our health-care budget by a long shot.
Instead, let’s examine the concentration of hospital monopolies, which studies show increase costs between 7 percent and 17 percent. Unless addressed, the $1.15 trillion spent on hospital care will grow unchecked. Congress just provided health insurers tax relief worth an estimated $352 billion over 10 years by repealing the health insurance tax and “Cadillac tax.”
It might make for a good headline to attack physicians, but the truth is that physicians, not economists, are best suited to lead health-care reform.
Gary Price, Washington
The writer is president of the
Physicians Foundation.