foreclosure statistics

"The U.S. health care system was already facing a shortage of approximately 150,000 doctors in the next decade or so, but thanks to the health care "reform" bill passed by Congress, that number could swell by several hundred thousand more Source: American Medical Association via thetruthwins.com"



The "source" was the AAMC, not the AMA. Your primary source, thetruthwins.com, states that the US "will likely face a shortage of as many as 150,000 doctors", whereas the WSJ article it references states,

"At current graduation and training rates, the nation could face a shortage of as many as 150,000 doctors in the next 15 years, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges."

A minor grievance and semantics it may be, but "could" is hardly the same as "will likely". However, the WSJ article cites the true cause of the shortage as the number of available resident positions, rather than the boom in newly covered patients, as the ultimate cause of doctor shortages.



"There is a shortage of medical resident positions...Teaching hospitals rely heavily on Medicare funding to pay for these slots. In 1997, Congress imposed a cap on funding for medical residencies, which hospitals say has increasingly hurt their ability to expand the number of positions."



To imply that the latest health care reform bill is the straw that breaks the camel's back is to be less than truthful. It may increase the doctor to patient ratio, but the shortage will never be resolved until this resident bottleneck is addressed. Also, in your same source article on thetruthwins.com, the author plainly states, "According to a survey published in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly one-third of all practicing physicians in the United States may leave the medical profession because of the health care legislation that was just passed." This is libel, at best. The NEJM is not responsible for the study, and the provided link points to yet another link, stating "the opinions expressed in the article linked to above represent those of The Medicus Firm only. That article does not represent the opinions of the New England Journal of Medicine or the Massachusetts Medical Society." As an astute commenter on thetruthwins.com points out:



"That survey was reported on not published by the NEJM. Being published by them requires the survey to be peer reviewed, being reported requires it only be newsworthy. Reading the methodology of the study is has numerous problems the biggest being:

1. The sample wasn’t truly random.

2. There are no control questions."



I'll add to that that the Medicus Firm, the company that conducted the study, " highest quality permanent physician recruitment services to our clients." Their clients being hospitals or other facilities in need of medical staffing. A conflict of interest, to be sure, as it would be in the Medicus Firm's best interest to present the worst case scenario. When the impending mass exodus of doctors from the medical field does occur, why not hire a"a physician search firm that can produce timely and impressive results without creating undue financial strain"? Why not hire Medicus? Internet journalism at it's finest.

Black women have emerged triumphant in May’s official unemployment data, with a decrease of 10 per cent in unemployment from 13.7 per cent in April to 12.4 per cent in May.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics positioned black women as the strongest performing demographic in the decline of unemployment across race and gender categories.

There was no change to the rate of unemployment of white women, which might suggest a reduction to the large unemployment gap between black and white women.

However, since February  the unemployment rate of white women has decreased one percentage point to 7.4 per cent, while that of black women has fluctuated around a rate of 13 per cent. This represents a difference of approximately 65 per cent.

Additional data compared across the twelve months from May 2009 to May 2010 indicate that the amount of black women in employment fell almost 1 percentage point from 56.5 to 55.6.

Education was also a factor in last month’s data, as unemployment levels for those without a high school diploma remained three times higher than those who had graduated.

The 52 per cent gap between the unemployment rates of black and white teenagers however remained largely unchanged.

White teenagers suffer an unemployment rate of 24.4 per cent, while 37.3 per cent of black teenagers are currently without work.

US economic data has been positive in recent times. A survey by Manpower Inc. suggested that of the 18,000 employer participants, 18 per cent were considering increasing their staff in the third quarter.

Some areas of the country however are particularly unfavourable for black workers.

Economic Policy Institute, based in Washington, released a study Tuesday highlighting total black unemployment rates of 20.9 per cent, 20.4 per cent and 13.3 for Detroit, Minneapolis and St. Louis respectively.

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Mike Fuljenz Mike Fuljenz