Massachusetts finds unintended consequences in health care reform

A map of Massachusetts does look like a snub-nosed revolver pointed at the rest of the nation. (You can buy a flash version of this map for just $14.95 from Maps4.com.)

In the case of health care reform that's an apt metaphor. 

Fact is even the best-intentioned health care reform has unintended consequences, and Massachusetts is on the bleeding edge of that lesson.

When demanding that any market change its behavior you're going to create imbalances which may take years to correct.

Massachusetts is finding this out now. By giving everyone health insurance the state has created a desperate shortage of family physicians.

By putting 340,000 new customers on the rolls demand for service has skyrocketed. Doctors just can't keep up.

The good news is that demand for emergency room services has decreased a bit, as patients can now visit doctors who are more appropriate, earlier in their disease process.

But the media, naturally, concentrates on the bad news.

The New York Times notes that the number of students in general practice residencies has been falling for a decade, and is only now starting to tick up due to higher salaries.

Foreign-trained doctors and nurse practitioners can help fill the gap. Massachusetts has also approved store-based clinics. But the new demand coming into the system is overwhelming the new supply.

What this tells policymakers is that major changes in the U.S. health care system must be phased in, and that new demand needs to be advertised heavily to potential suppliers. Also, family physicians need a raise.

Anyone think that will happen?