However, there are large areas in which medical care is dangerously distant. A government estimate in 1990 found that communities need about 35,000 more general practitioners. In today's highly specialized society, doctors prefer more lucrative practices such as surgeon and specialists. This lack of general health care has forced many Americans to seek the costly help of a specialist when the services of a general physician would more than suffice. We can take several steps in order to correct the problem of a lack of general practitioners.
Federal money pays for half of all graduate medical education.
We could provide additional federal money to those students who plan to practice primary care. We could also expand the three year plan proposed by Congress that would help communities finance medical education for physicians. As an extra incentive we could provide a tax break on the physician's first year income once he began to practice primary care. The health care crisis in the United States cannot be solved by simply attacking one of the problems it has caused. The problems that this issue poses must be solved by cooperation between Congress, the President, and the people of the United States.