Florida doesn't have enough doctors for Medicaid expansion, lobby group says

[PeterS]

I have to agree with you on the PA's. Our internist is a great doc, but he keeps you waiting for hours. I don't have the patience. By the time I'm in the waiting room for 3+ hours (last time it was over 4 hours from the appointment time til SR and I got out of that office) my blood pressure was sky high. So I go to his assistant, who takes the time to quietly talk to me and makes good recommendations. SR is more patient. Also, he had a stroke and needs the doc. I'm a stubborn cuss and have come up with my own specialists (from recommendations from another specialist). I've found good docs that way. I believe patients need to take responsibility for their own health and read and be proactive.

As far as the number of doctors, a friend in Cape Coral, Fl, whose husband is a PA, told me there are as many docs as there are grains of sand in Florida. I think she's right. I've only had one doc, a dermatologist, who had been recommended but had closed her practice. I got someone else in her practice who is excellent.

And if you want a dentist in Florida, there must be thousands. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but there are so many who will give multiple opinions, all gouging the patient for big bucks.

I live in Texas so don't know about Florida but according to the AMA we already have a shortage here in Texas yet it doesn't seem to have tranlated to the waiting rooms which are usually near empty. I know this is my own personal experience but I do think there is a lot of hyperbole surounding this issue. I simply do not believe that adding more patients is going to overload our system, not in Fl nor nationally...

[SaintLouieWoman]

I live in Texas so don't know about Florida but according to the AMA we already have a shortage here in Texas yet it doesn't seem to have tranlated to the waiting rooms which are usually near empty. I know this is my own personal experience but I do think there is a lot of hyperbole surounding this issue. I simply do not believe that adding more patients is going to overload our system, not in Fl nor nationally...

Adding more patients might be a Godsend for some of the not so great docs, the one at the bottom of the bell curve. They will finally start building a practice---of those who can't get in anywhere else.

It will probabably contribute to the closing of many practices of the better docs, at least the ones with the best general reputation. (By closing, I mean limiting the practice to existing patients). This will make it more difficult to get the best treatment, in my opinion. I've been trying to establish myself as a patient with some of the better specialists as a protection so they'll be there if I need them.

A retired doc/surgeon we know was talking about how disgusted he's getting with the med system. He recently retired. He said that the government has been forcing the med schools to pass about anyone on the premise that if they're smart enough to get into medical school, they shouldn't be failed. What a rotten extension of the "Johnny shouldn't have his widdle feelings hurt, so we'll just pass him and move him along.'