According to a Central Intelligence Agency report, at 2.55 doctors per 1,000 population, the US ranks 54th in the world, well behind countries like Austria at 5.15 doctors/1,000 of population, Bulgaria at 4 doctors/1,000 of population, Estonia at 3.32 doctors/1,000 population, and the list goes on.
So how can the US ever expect to drive down the cost of healthcare (and in turn health insurance costs), without addressing the issue of supply and demand, something unique to US healthcare, because of its “for profit” make up. In order to have any real impact on the cost of healthcare, the US has to either dramatically increase the number of doctors, or take the Republican's approach, and reduce the number of people in the US who have access to healthcare.
A single payer system, as Democrats have suggested, is not the answer. Sure, there may be a drop, initially, in the cost of health insurance, due to elimination of overhead, profit, etc, but once those savings are taken into account, health insurance costs will rise, as there is nothing to address the rise in healthcare costs. (NOTE: Healthcare and health insurance are NOT synonymous terms.)
As Donald Trump said, “who knew healthcare was so complicated”.
The Republican's approach may not be the most compassionate way to solving US healthcare problems, but at this point, it may be the only and best approach.
As long as US healthcare remains a “for profit” business, the law of supply and demand can’t be ignored, and while dropping 51 million people from health insurance roles may sound cruel to some, it will improve the healthcare, and make it more accessible to everyone fortunate enough to be able to afford health insurance.
After all, don’t the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?