Well, sort of. In the past year, 5 of my long time health care providers have left their practices: Goldstein, Constantino, Pietracola, Griffin and now Mastrianni. Two of them were courteous enough to send departure letters. Three have retired or so the story goes, one flew to another medical consortium, and the latest is leaving his practice and continuing his medical career with a combination of teaching and administrative work. His letter cited our 14-year relationship. I've been seeing the 5 practitioners for quite a long time, ranging from about 7 to 20 years. Only one of them was of typical retirement age, so the reason for the mass exodus is a mystery, or maybe just a coincidence.
Likewise, there has occurred an acute shortage of home health aides or caretakers. Though we are deemed eligible for services, we cannot avail ourselves of them because no one is available, either from agencies or personal referrals. The media has addressed the situation, attributing it to increases in payment for fast food workers. A friend just told me that he knows people who, in addition to paying generous salaries to their healthcare workers, also provide them health insurance and vacation pay.
Replacing the ACA will do little good if the shortage of providers impacts the delivery of affordable health care. Where is the focus on that problem?
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