New Legislative Proposal: Fifty New Medical Schools For More And Better Doctors Act

I am proposing new legislation!

The Fifty New Medical Schools for More and Better Doctors Act,

also known as the  

American Medical Professional Education Reform Act (AMPERA)

 

• OUR MEDICAL EDUCATION SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE REFORMED TO PROVIDE MORE AND BETTER DOCTOR
• THIS WILL IMPROVE HEALTH CARE, EXPAND THE ECONOMY, AND HELP REDUCE HEALTH CARE COSTS

• THE PROPOSED REFORM IS TO OPEN FIFTY NEW MEDICAL SCHOOLS, ONE IN EACH STATE,
• AND REDUCE THE TOTAL TRAINING TIME BY STARTING MEDICAL EDUCATION EARLIER THIS WILL BE PAID FOR BY A FIFTY-BILLION DOLLAR GRANT, ONE BILLION FOR EACH SCHOOL, TO SET UP A NEW FACILITY AND SCHOLARSHIPS. 
•   THE NECESSARY FUNDS WILL COME, NOT FROM TAXES, BUT FROM US CORPORATIONS’ OVERSEAS CASH DEPOSITS IN EXCHANGE FOR TAX BENEFITS

• HEALTH CARE COSTS WILL BE REDUCED BY
• STARTING TRAINING EARLIER, SHORTENING THE TOTAL EDUCATIONAL CYCLE
• GRADUATING MORE NURSE PRACTITIONERS
• INCREASING COMPETITION

BACKGROUND:

According to USA Today, a severe doctor shortage is growing worse, and has been predicted to reach up to 200,000 in a few years.

“The country needs to train 3,000 to 10,000 more physicians a year — up from the current 25,000 — to meet the growing medical needs of an aging, wealthy nation, the studies say. Because it takes 10 years to train a doctor, the nation will have a shortage of 85,000 to 200,000 doctors in 2020 unless action is taken soon.”  USA Today Article “Medical Miscalculation Creates Doctor Shortage”

“With a growing, aging population, the demand for physicians will intensify over the coming years.  According to AAMC estimates, the United States faces a shortage of more than 90,000 physicians by 2020—a number that will grow to more than 130,000 by 2025.”

Association of American Medical Colleges Official Website.

We have a shortage of US Medical Schools.  Several states have no medical school whatsoever.

We do not have enough U.S. based medical schools to meet the demand for physicians.

We rely on approximately 25% foreign imports to staff our graduate medical programs.

• According to the American Medical Association:

 “ In 2006, out of 902,053 physicians, 228,665 International Medical Graduates [IMGs] received medical degrees from 127 different countries, accounting for 25.3% of the total physician count.”  AMA Official Website

• According to the American Medical Association, “International Medical Graduates [IMG’s] make up approximately 25% of the U.S. physician population.” AMA Official Website.

Medical education starts too late and takes too long.  In most foreign countries, medical education starts directly out of high school.

SOLUTION:

Congress passes the

The Fifty New Medical Schools for More and Better Doctors Act,

also known as the American Medical Professional Education Reform Act (AMPERA),

Elements of the Proposed Legislation:

• Using the Land Grant College system as a model, Congress sponsors fifty new medical schools, one in each state.Each school is granted $1 billion to establish the facility, hire the faculty, and set up extensive scholarships.

States are encouraged to participate, buying the land and providing matching funds.

• A small agency is set up to establish standards, accredit the schools, and establish a timetable to get them started.

• $50 Billion Funding is provided as follows:
• Donations to a trust fund by U.S. Corporation
• Many US Corporations have multiple billions of dollars in cash, on deposit in foreign countries.  They don’t want to repatriate the funds because of the tax implications.
• Establish a tax credit—for every billion dollars a corporation provides to the trust fund, it can repatriate ten billion dollars (or a minimum number to provide the necessary tax incentive) tax free
• That avoids higher taxes
• Second, and less preferable alternative would be Congressional Appropriation

•  Educational times would be shortened, and each medical school would produce Doctors, Nurse Practitioners, and Registered Nurses, as follows:

• Education starts after 2 years of college preparation.
• Total time to MD Degree = 6 years
• Total time to NP Degree = 5 years
• Total time to RN Degree = 4 years
• Liberal scholarships would be funded

Join me in urging Congress to pass this legislation.

George Will Hits The Nail on the Head

I read this essay by George Will (courtesy of the Newsweek Magazine which Mom and Dad send us at work--thanks!)

Its called High Speed Insolvency--Why Liberals Love Trains

Why do we borrow BILLIONS of dollars to build trains to take us from Point A to Point B more slowly, and at higher cost, than airplanes, and that almost no one uses?
He thinks he has the answer.
What do you think?

There's another reason why we get high speed trains, that he doesn't touch on.
People always have, and always will, love to sell things to the government, whether we need them or not. Where there's money to be made, there will always be a lobby to urge the government to buy--even dumb stuff. As citizens, we need to be better consumers. Otherwise, a fool and his money are soon parted.
George Will's piece should be studied as a masterpiece of opinion essay writing--whether one agrees with conclusion or not.

Who said the President associated with terrorists?

American civic discourse has always been a contact sport. Who wrote this, about whom, and when?



Mr. X said: "The democrats are divided into speculative theorists and absolute terrorists. With the latter I am not disposed to class Mr. Y."


Answers below.

Mr. X was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall.

Mr. Y was Thomas Jefferson, the president elect of the United States.

Marshall wrote this in a letter on the same day in March 1801 that he administered the oath of office to Thomas Jefferson.
Source: Jeffrey Rosen, The Supreme Court (Times Books 2007), p. 27.

And I thought that the terrorists had only been around since 9/11.

The Glorification of Mediocrity

What's wrong with this picture?

Mediocrity is praised.
Casual becomes slovenly.
Accomplishment is to be avoided.
Slackers rule, no really.

What Is The Most Important Character Trait?

Self-Discipline.
Without it, one cannot do the right thing.
It does little good to know what is right if one does not choose the right.

What do you think?

The Path from Liberty to Social Justice

When our country was founded, the primary emphasis was on the establishment of liberty--freedom from oppression by government. Thus, our constitution is one of limited powers; all powers not conferred on government in the constitution are reserved to the people.


Our national experiment in establishing liberty has been successful. Freedom has been passed down from generation to generation, for more than 225 years. This is a miracle.

We now take freedom somewhat for granted. The national government of limited powers has been instrumental in protecting our freedom from threats, foreign and domestic, to the point where government is now viewed as a source of freedom, not a source of tyranny.

Two points follow.

• First, with our basic freedoms secured, most Americans now want the next logical step: social justice. With liberty as our birthright, people are now able to focus achieving the happiness which we are free to pursue. Equality of opportunity is fine as far as it goes; equality of outcome is even better.
  
• Second, the government is widely perceived as a common resource to help us achieve this goal. We have forgotten that government was a source of tyranny; we now invoke its assistance in achieving social justice.

We see this trend unleashed in the political will that elected the current administration.
The best path to social justice should be the subject of a vigorous debate.

Economics and Freedom

Here's an interesting website devoted to economics and freedom. The Mises Institute says:

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

"It is the mission of the Mises Institute to restore a high place for theory in economics and the social sciences, encourage a revival of critical historical research, and draw attention to neglected traditions in Western philosophy. In this cause, the Mises Institute works to advance the Austrian School of economics and the Misesian tradition, and, in application, defends the market economy, private property, sound money, and peaceful international relations, while opposing government intervention as economically and socially destructive."