my connection with the tea party

[kandrathe]

Doctors already have lots of options for being altruistic, taking a pay cut, or being greedy, and maximizing revenue. It seems like this would just be channeling them into the public sector. I'm all for public sector medicine, so I'm for this too, but I'm not seeing how this changes the incentives for *enrollment*, which is how you'd get supply up, and prices down.

Well, temporarily into the public sector. But, you are right, it does nothing to open up enrollment other than provide an alternative funding path for profession already in high demand.

I'm assuming we have a supply problem for a few reasons. 1) not enough enrollment slots in colleges making it difficult to get into the profession, or 2) the costs are prohibitive, where the alternative health corps route would alleviate that concern. 3) not enough students are interested in the profession, or 4) not enough students have the prerequisite aptitude. We can't do to much about 3) or 4).

To address 1), we'd need to create incentives for colleges to expand their enrollment in these professions.

It sounds like any other program, public or private: hire workers to do a job. File paperwork accordingly.

It's not different other than attempting to bend the supply and demand curves in the health care profession.