Medical Student Takes Interest in Health System Reform
|
|
Jaimon Stucki talks with Sen. Arlen Specter.
Photo credit: Darrell Peterson/Penn State Hershey Medical Center. |
They don’t know it but as the US Congress debates health system reform, they also are deciding Jaimon Stucki’s future.
Any reform will determine whether the second-year medical student can afford to go into primary care. While he’s in school, Stucki’s young family is surviving on his student loans—which will have amounted to nearly $300,000 by the time he’s done with training.
“Primary care physicians don’t make anywhere close to that so it’s extremely difficult for someone like me to go into primary care,” Stucki says.
At a town hall meeting with US Sen. Arlen Specter at Hershey Medical Center, Stucki asked the senator about medical school loan forgiveness and the national primary care shortage. Although Sen. Specter was noncommittal, he did mention that his son who is in medical school is feeling a similar pinch.
“I think those are two very important aspects of our health care system that aren’t being emphasized enough. At the time, nobody was really talking about the shortage of primary care doctors, although it’s been a lot more prevalent in the discussion since then,” Stucki says.
Learn more about health system reform and the Medical Society’s eight reform principles.
Last Updated: 12/17/2009