Some in the medical industry say the Affordable Care Act might be good for doctors.
But then again, others say it might not.
One thing is for certain, though, and it’s that Ohio University med and pre-med students are experiencing uncertainty as they prepare to enter a field getting a drastic makeover.
Emily Herfel, a second-year student at the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, said she doesn’t think the new model will be sustainable.
It’s a simple lesson of economics, she said.
“To boil it down, there is going to be a increase in demand and a decrease in supply,” she said. “So what’s going to happen is that doctors are going to be worn out and people are going to be demanding health care whether they need it or not.”
But not all budding doctors at OU think the potential addition of 1.5 million Ohioans onto health insurance plans will be for the worse.
Elsa Heiner, a junior studying pre-med biological sciences and president of the OU American Medical Student Association pre-med club, said the new law doesn’t change the perspective she’s had since she first wanted to be a doctor.
She’s still optimistic about her plans for a career in pediatrics.
“For the future, (the law) is a really awesome plan, and I think there are definitely going to be bumps in the road that we’re going to have to work out as we first implement it,” Heiner said. “But I think the overall plan for the future will be a good one and a successful one.”
With more insured patients that can afford primary care, Heiner said specialists will have less work to do.
However, Herfel said that would put the burden on primary care doctors.
Furthering the problem, fewer physicians have recently been going into primary care, said Dr. John Brose, OU’s vice provost for health services.
To accommodate this need, OU-HCOM is encouraging more students down this career path, Brose said, adding that about half of the college’s students are on that track.
Herfel said that is especially important because primary care doctors are retiring in response to the law taking effect.
She said she doesn’t want the government intervening in how doctors provide care.
“How do you quantify quality?” Herfel said. “It’s going to be almost impossible to fine tune and say if you meet a requirement, that means you’ve hit quality of care for that patient. That’s not ever going to be doable.”
sh335311@ohiou.edu
@SamuelHHoward
