By Robert Miranda
Puerto Rico – The number of doctors practicing in Puerto Rico continues to drop. The reason is that medical professionals in general are leaving for the better life to be had in the United States.
The issue is money. For decades, the U.S. has squeezed payments to Puerto Rico under the federally sponsored Medicare and Medicaid insurance programs, which cover most people on the island. For doctors, that has made work on the mainland ever more attractive. And the situation is only likely to get worse: The island’s $70 billion debt crisis – much of that money originally raised to pay for healthcare – has blocked Puerto Rico from additional borrowing to cover looming funding gaps.
Doctors in the territory earn much less than those in the States, not just because of the overall economic difficulties in Puerto Rico but also because the territory is funded worse than the States in Medicare and Medicaid.
The drop is worse among specialists. The number of cardiologists had gone from 400 to 150, and the number of anesthesiologists from 300 to 100.
There was already a shortage of many kinds of doctors. So, the relocation of doctors and other medical professionals in the territory could lead to inadequate health care for the people of Puerto Rico. In essence, Puerto Rico’s health care will mirror that of Haiti in a few years.
Last month, the Caribbean Business news confirmed that doctors are still leaving at a rate it called “alarming.” The total number of doctors in the territory is not extremely low, the paper reported, but specialists are tending to leave. New doctors are also trading in the territory for a State. When medical students head to the States to do internships, one university spokesperson was quoted as saying, they probably won’t return.
With many of the doctors in the territory in their fifties and sixties, a wave of retirement is also ahead.
The problem is not only one of healthcare. There is also the fact that doctors and medical care in general creates other jobs. A practicing doctor will have nurses, technical assistants, and office staff. Without doctors, many of those jobs are leaving the island as well.
