OI,
This is about States being broke, the hospitals loosing money, and the States with declining income from taxes, and not having the money to help the hospital to survive.
Fewer doctor's and nurses are going to drive up the cost of health care due to longer waits to get admitted, more suits for negligence due to lack of staff or timely admissions and deaths as a result.
I was talking to everyone I knew, 20 years ago that this was coming, and they all looked at me like I was off the wall. I was also talking about the lack of people going into the medical field and how it was going to bite us now. Well here it is. Medical schools and nursing down. Aging population up. The kicker is with the state deficits there are going to be many people dying due to lack of care before long.
Now have those jump in and say let the old ones die. Well, if you are young and you can't get ER treatment you are in the same boat.
You think there are medical errors now, you have not seen anything yet. Fewer nurses to document more patients with paper work and less time to care for patients. Ditto Doctor's.
I worked the field for 30 years, and could see it coming. Treat you current doctor nice because, if they retire you just might have a hard time finding another one. Thank your doctor for all his or her care over the years. I do. That might be the best thank you that you ever gave. Be sincere though.
Bottom line less will not be better, and it will raise costs in the end. Wait until you see the burn out of the medical community. One can only work so many hours a day before your body shuts down and errors happen.