Why not do Free Medical Education (Doctors and Nurses) in exchange for taking Single Payer patients

[Yavin4]

Why don't we pay for the medical education of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals in exchange for them taking on Single Payer/Medicare for All patients. For current health care professionals, we can offer to forgive all outstanding student loan debt.

Or am I crazy?

p.s. I'm not saying lower the standards to get into medical school. The standards for admission/graduation would be the same. They would just have to accept Medicare/Single payer patients.

p.p.s. There would be a limit to the number of patients that they would be required to accept.

Okay, now you may call me crazy.

[applegrove]

1. There are certainly enough really smart people who want to get into medicine

as a calling. No need for free education. People make a good salary in canada under universal health care. They pay off their loans. The system works.

[Yavin4]

3. What's the size of their loans?

I'm trying to create an incentive for medical professionals to take on single payer patients.

[Ms. Toad]

2. There are already multiple versions of this proposal in existence

Here's a relatively comprehensive summary for doctors:

https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/article/pay-medical-school-through-service/

[htuttle]

4. I think one of the problems is that doctors and nurses don't work in isolation -- not even in pairs

The high cost of health care comes in large part from the administration of health care, and this idea wouldn't reduce the need, amount or cost of it.

Pharmaceuticals are another source of high health care costs, and that problem wouldn't go away either.

That's why so many proposals for some sort of universal health care end up having to just cover everything in order to reduce the cost of figuring out what NOT to pay for (in a medically sound way), and also need to present a monopoly-level customer (ie, one without competition) to Big Pharma in order to get lower costs.

[lindysalsagal]

5. I'd like to see non-profit public universities tied to free clinics.

Staff them with unpaid but also un-charged (tuition) students and interns with attendings on salary. We need to provide non-emergency and non-surgical healthcare, and we also need docs and nurses.

Use some of the empty buildings that manufacturing abandonded. There are so many empty shopping malls because of Amazon.

We have the brains and initiative, we just need the medical for-profit lobby to allow the laws to provide for the non-profit formats.

[cyclonefence]

6. I paid part of my college tuition with a National Defense Loan

which was interest-free and did not have to be repaid at all if I taught school for four years in a "needy" school district.

Maybe doctors' and nurses' student loans could be forgiven at a given rate per year they agree to work in free clinics? They would of course be paid for their work, but the debt relief would be very attractive, I think.

[Ohiogal]

7. What if states did a "Northern Exposure" type of thing?

Where they'd pay off a new doctor's medical school loans in exchange for them to work a certain number of years at rural clinics or understaffed urban clinics?

[sarah FAILIN]

8. Pretty sure that is a thing already.

You just have to go to an under served area

https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/rural-monitor/loan-repayment-and-forgiveness/

[Hoyt]

11. Exactly. It already exists, but not many take advantage of it.

Fact is, if one can make $200K, or more, a year, it’s not that difficult to pay off sizable loans.

[roamer65]

9. Smart thing to do would be to unify our single payer system with the Canadian one.

Model it exactly the same and widen the pool. The benefits would increase for everyone.

Call it NorthAmericare.

[Yavin4]

10. But wouldn't we all have to eat Tim Horton doughnuts?

And wear a mullet?