The answer is yes, as I wrote in my open letter to Barack Obama and John McCain.
Brian Doherty, a lobbyist who started a new blog at the ACP, takes a similar slant:
So what have the candidates said about primary care? Not too much. As ACP’s comparison of the candidate’s positions shows, Senator Obama’s plan mentions the importance of primary care and the need to reduce medical education debt, but that is about it. Senator McCain’s plan does not propose any policies to address the primary care shortage, although the GOP’s convention platform mentions its belief “in the importance of primary care specialties and supporting the physician’s role in the evaluation and management of disease.”
The uninsured will take center stage in the coming months, and potential President Obama’s plan mirrors the Massachusetts experience. In that state, even with the highest primary care doctor per capita, there is not enough access to handle the influx of the newly insured.
It’s disappointing that Obama has not made primary care a centerpiece of his reform proposal, instead focusing on the uninsured. The availability of generalist physicians will make or break any plan going forward.
