Hawaii faces a shortage of licensed medical doctors to care for its population, and more critically for its aging population.

Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid all offer reimbursements for medical services at less than actual cost. Medical doctors are expected to stoically accept reduced reimbursement from the government medical programs and private health care insurance. Insurance programs dictate how doctors are expected to treat their sick patients by limiting reimbursable expenses. Physicians need to justify any deviation from allowed treatment to avoid disallowance of benefit.

Physicians are choosing to retire early rather than endure an unfair health-care system. It is normal to have to wait two to four weeks to see a medical specialist. And normal to receive care from a physician assistant or an advanced practice registered nurse instead of a licensed physician.

If lawmakers at the federal and state levels fail to acknowledge the challenges facing medical doctors and do nothing to provide incentives and financial benefits for them, we will all learn first-hand what medical rationing feels like.

John Tamashiro

Pearl City

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