Medical costs in the US are high, and they are projected to get even higher – eating up the federal budget along the way. We all know at least one of the drivers of medical costs is a lack of Doctors. In fact, the shortage of practicing Medical Doctors in the US is staggering. According to a World Bank survey in 2010, the United States has less Doctors Per capita than 51 other countries around the world. Those countries include pretty much all of Europe, which on average has about 1 more Doctor for every thousand people. The US has 2.4 Doctors per every thousand people, while Norway, Switzerland, and Spain all have 4.0 or more. There are also some more surprising names on the list though, countries like Ukraine, Argentina, Georgia etc all have significantly higher DPC numbers.

Despite being is Basic economics dictates that if there’s a shortage of anything, higher prices can be charged and there are little incentives in the industry to provide better service or to innovate.