A recent report published by Reuters indicates that the line between the haves and the have-nots is expanding beyond just those that have health insurance. The article describes disparities in where doctors locate and illustrates the point with the scenario of White Plains, NY. This city has doctors a plenty lining up to provide care to a population of people with the highest national income (approximately $77,000 per year). This is not the case for economically struggling Bakersfield, CA. The article describes how diabetic patients have to take a 2-hour bus ride to Fresno to get the care they need.

Data from Dartmouth Medical School indicate that “such regional disparities are increasingly creating a nation of health-care haves and have nots.” Doctors tend to locate their practices in more affluent communities which has a tendency to increase health care costs without improving results.

We all wait for Congress to make sweeping changes to our health care system. But it doesn’t appear that health care reform is going to address distribution of one of the most expensive parts of the US health care system – where doctors locate their practice.

In the meantime, the Kaiser Family Foundation points out that the US continues spending more of its GDP on health care than other developed countries. Worse yet, approximately one-third of the money spent on health care in the US is wasted. The Obama administration has decided to focus health care reform on the issue of access. That’s because focusing on the $500 billion in waste in our current system would be political suicide. However, focusing on access has its benefits too, especially if it includes more incentives for providing preventive care. If the democrats are able to pass this version of health care reform, however, there will need to continued focus on improving and reforming health care down the road.