Ahmed Ahmed at Asterisk:
Per capita, the United States had twice as many physicians as Great Britain, four times as many as France, five times as many as Germany, six times as many as Italy, and 14 times as many as Russia. Modern data that those in 1900 weren’t fortuitous enough to access make this gap even more curious, as the disparities in wealth and living standards were not large enough to account for the gap in the number of doctors.
A century and a quarter later, the script has entirely flipped and the doctor gap has reversed. The United Kingdom and France have 20% more practicing physicians per capita than the United States and that number increases to 50% and 66% when looking at Italy and Germany, respectively. We are currently in the midst of a physician shortage that is only set to become worse.
The story of America’s relative pittance of physicians shows how prudent policies can transform into regulatory capture.
More here.
Enjoying the content on 3QD? Help keep us going by donating now.