Primary care key to reform
The Sun printed two stories this week about shortages of primary care doctors ("The primary need," Commentary, Sept. 27; and "Primary care's hidden loss," Sept. 29). This is a critical issue, and I am proud to have authored a number of measures over the last two Congresses that can help attract more physicians to primary care and ensure that student loan debt is not a barrier to practicing community-based medicine.
The Primary Care Training Enhancement Act (H.R. 2930) would establish new teaching health centers to train primary care doctors, ensure adequate resources for medical resident positions and enhance scholarship and loan forgiveness programs. I also introduced the Health Care Workforce Incentive Act (H.R. 2929) to sharpen our focus on work force shortages, particularly in primary care. Elements of each of these proposals are now part of the broader health reform bill.
On the issue of student debt, there is already meaningful relief available in legislation I championed in the last Congress. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness option, which became law on Sept. 27, 2007, allows doctors and other caregivers to receive loan forgiveness after working at non-profit community hospitals or clinics for 10 years. They will also receive reduced monthly payments during that 10-year period.
Intelligent reforms to fix our health care system must include a strong commitment to increasing the number of primary care doctors and an emphasis on preventive care. If we focus on these areas, we can catch health problems sooner and improve health outcomes, increase access and reduce costs.
U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, BaltimoreThe writer is a Democrat representing Maryland's 3rd District.
Not all med students want Obamacare
As a third-year medical student at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine with parents strongly considering a move from the Sunshine State to the Old Line State, your piece on primary care ("Primary care's hidden loss," Sept. 29) was well received - that is, until the end. The physician work force issue is one that I have been passionate about since entering medical school. It clearly must be dealt with in order to successfully achieve health care reform.
However, closing with medical student Nidhi Goel's self-proclaimed "bleeding heart liberal" views on health care reform without presenting those of medical students with different opinions gives the impression that all medical students favor government-run health care. This, of course, is false.
