Why Are There Shortages in Healthcare and How Do We Fix Them?

There will be a shortage of 21,000 55,000 primary care physicians by 2033. Additionally, there are 195,000 vacancies for nursing positions in America every year because of the nursing shortage.

Shortages in healthcare are determined by the Law of Supply and Demand. In a normal market situation, supply and demand reach an equilibrium price and an equilibrium quantity. As a result, there is NO Shortage.

However, if the price is set artificially low, then not enough will be supplied relative to demand and there will be a shortage.

In the case of labor, the 'price' of labor is the wage. The 'quantity of labor' is the number of people and the number of hours worked in that profession.

If there is a shortage, by definition there must be Rationing. Rationing comes in two forms:
1) Queue Rationing, i.e. a 'Waiting List'
2) Price Rationing, i.e. rationing based on ability to pay

Healthcare has both forms of rationing, ranging from trauma surgery weekend coverage (Queue Rationing) to Lasik eye surgery (Price Rationing).

Both forms have their Pros and Cons, which can be debated forever. The point is not which is 'better' or 'worse,' but rather that shortages in healthcare are 1) explainable, 2) have straightforward consequences and 3) can be addressed differently in different situations by different groups of people.

There is no 'One Solution' and that's ok.

Sources:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/w...

https://www.nursingworld.org/practice...

https://lpeproject.org/blog/theecono...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johngood...

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