1) A social policy that might reduce costs and help get doctors to the poor, where they are needed the most, would be to overpro
duce physicians. (2) The government could encourage the opening of new medical schools. (3) It could either finance them, or, if the schools are turned over to investors, offer tax breaks. (4) I suggest that we modify a system that Mexico has. (5) In return for spending a specified amount of time in areas where there is a doctor shortage, students could go to college and medical school free of charge. (6) They would also be paid a monthly salary. (7) I suggest that new physicians be required to give four years back for the eight that they spend in college and medical training. (8) These graduates would not be given their final certification until they have completed those four years. (9) During these years of service, the government would pay for their medical malpractice insurance and pay them a salary equal to the average U.S. wage. (10) Not only would such a program help to get doctors to the areas where the need is the greatest, but it would also increase competition among doctors. (11) Currently, the American Medical Association stifles competition by limiting the number of medical graduates. (12) If more doctors graduated, patients would have a greater choice of physicians. (13) As competition among doctors grew, doctors would likely reduce their prices, and the rise in medical costs would slow. (14) The waiting period in doctors’ offices would also lessen as overcrowding and over scheduling decreased. (15) If patients have more choice, some of the more incompetent physicians would be driven out of medicine. (16) Communities that have not been able to lure a physician to their town should be able to recruit physicians. (17) The outcry of physicians to such a proposal would be loud, for their income would drop as prices for their services fell. (18) The physicians’ “labor union” (or more accurately, their business organization), the American Medical Association, would mobilize to fight such a proposal. (19) By controlling the nation’s medical schools, the AMA limits the supply of physicians, guaranteeing high medical costs. (20) An oversupply is not in the interest of this powerful monopoly. 3. The main pattern of organization used in the passage is one of a. cause and effect. b. definition and example. c. contrast. d. list of items.
