The most recent detailed study we have is a 1999 paper on CRNA position availability in North Carolina. It found 82 CRNA vacancies statewide in 1999, and projected an astonishing 133 CRNA vacancies by 2004. Meanwhile, the number of Medicare-eligible retirees is projected to increase, from some 34 million today, to over 40 million just ten years from now. They will need more healthcare, as will the aging workforce that will be caring for them. It does not take an act of Congress for Americans to know that without enough anesthetists, we have a real problem.
Surgery is delayed or put off entirely.
We have rural hospitals closing, making surgical care available only in cities a long drive or airline flight away. Healthcare is made much more costly to patients, and to payers like Medicare, insurance companies and employers. For lack of anesthesia care for service casualties, even military training deployments could get delayed. You and I know that these are real problems. I believe that we have the wherewithal to help solve them, within a fiscally responsible and balanced Federal budget.