In Massachusetts, you better hope nothing's wrong with you

Lots of coverage today of a Boston Globe article citing the difficulties of Massachusetts residents in finding a primary care doctor, with waits for appointments as long as 100 days. Luckily, the government sees what a problem this is and is taking action:

Now, as the state's health insurance mandate threatens to make a chronic doctor shortage worse, the Legislature has approved an unprecedented set of financial incentives for young physicians, and other programs to attract primary care doctors. But healthcare leaders fear the new measures will take several years to ease the shortage.

I personally agree that action needs to be taken ... but not just in Massachusetts; it needs to happen across the country. There was a study recently that found that the number of medical students entering primary care or internal medicine is dropping, which over time is going to lead to even less access. If people with decent health insurance (I would consider myself one of them) have difficulty find a physician to see them within a decent period of time, the government needs to step in and increase the incentives for medical students to become PCPs.

See additional coverage here, here and here.