Talking Points for Medicare 4 All from a Public Health Physician

[McCamy Taylor]

2. Two More Talking Points

1. In states that took the Medicaid expansion, small towns were able to open new clinics and hospitals (compare rural Colorado and New Mexico to rural Texas). Medicare 4A would have an even greater effect on small towns. And once there are doctors and hospitals then companies and jobs could relocate to small towns. So M4A is great for rural America!

2. M4A will mean more emphasis on disease prevention meaning a greater demand for primary care physicians. We can either continue to import them from other countries where the cost of going to medical school does not put you half a million dollars in debt. Or, we can do medical school debt forgiveness for docs who go into primary care. Primary care is much more fun than specialty care. But many medical students give up their dream of being an all around doctor (think Marcus Welby) because it would take them too long to pay back their loans on what a pediatrician or family doctor makes. So M4A means more primary care doctors. Meaning it will no longer be easier to find an orthopedist to replace your knee (next day) versus a primary care doctor to treat your diabetes (never in some areas where primary care is no longer accepting new diabetic patients)<--- this is an absolutely true story. As a nation we ought to be scared that it is easier to get a new knee than to get your blood sugar under control.