I am sure everyone has heard that President elect Obama is developing a Health Reform for 2009. The plan is to extend meaningful health insurance to more Americans and seek to reduce costs so that every American has access to primary care.

But, you may not be aware that with Obama's new plan, there will most likely incur a shortage of primary care physicians. The workforce crisis is due to a combination of inadequate payment to do the job correctly, and inadequate resources to organize practices to do it right.

The basic premise is that if we do plan to extend meaningful health insurance to more Americans and seek to reduce costs, we need to make sure Americans have access to a primary care doctor.

You may be asking yourself, "why the shortage?" Good question! In a nutshell, surveys indicate that physicians when asked if they would choose primary care again, 1 in 4 said NO! Wow, that is pretty scary. But let me ask you a question. In what other profession, other than physicians, could you send a bill for $100 and see a payment for $45? Let me put it another way.......can you imagine what would happen if your plumber handed you a bill for $60 and you replied, "I think I'll just pay $32." Seriously, this is how insurance companies pay physicians. And, now you wonder why docs cannot continue seeing fewer patients for less money and adding more paperwork requirements. No doc in their right mind would go into medicine again at a time like this.

I hate to be pessimestic........that is not my nature, but I am simply trying to raise awareness of the crisis at hand. This is a start to finding a solution!

I urge everyone to stay involved. Keep yourself updated on the politics of healthcare. This crisis affects EVERY American!