why aren't there more residency spots? Why can't people who need to do residency be forced to go to a (more) far away city that has a lack of doctors and be trained there?
The following shows the percentage of residency positions filled by speciality: http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Main-Match-Re...
The issue isn't with the supply of graduating students, it's with the number of residency spots.
This year 95.3%[0] of graduating students matched to a residency program. Out of 18.5k applicants, only 17.5k matched to an available residency program.
0: http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-Match-by...
Residents need lots of close attention by experienced doctors. The current attending:resident ratio is already suboptimal, from what I've seen.