Medicaid pays billions in fradulent claims each year. Government should shut it down. Medicaid patients can receive better care and federal funds would be better spent under a more simple universal plan which would cover basic preventive treatment for Americans who cannot pay for their own insurance. Almost two-thirds of 500 senior executives surveyed last summer by the consulting firm, Noble Lowndes, said they support such a plan. This would sharply increase payroll taxes for the wealthiest, but such a change would be a fairer way of dividing the burden which now falls more on lower income workers.
Doctors seem to be disappearing.
More than 570,000 practice medicine in the U.S. today, almost double the number 20 years ago. Rural America, as well as many inner cities, are facing a big problem in primary care. Communities need about 35,000 more general practitioners, according to most estimates. The shortage of general practitioners leads to wasteful use of medical resources. Without a family doctor to keep track of their overall health, people must find their own way through a costly medical system, often getting high-priced help where the skills of a general doctor would do.