Hacker News Reader

Comment by coryfklein | Hacker News Reader

> You need a decade to actually functionally increase the supply of nurses and specialists.

Similar things were said for the vaccine.

There is so much gatekeeping in the medical community that is not totally necessary. A doctor or nurse that immigrates to the US from a different country which has better health care than we do cannot practice were without jumping through tons of hoops. That is a pretty straightforward way the government – in a state of national emergency mind you! – could instantly and functionally increase the supply of nurses and specialists.

View on HN

Isn’t the shortage of healthcare workers world wide? How does reducing the friction of moving into the US do anything but shift the problem around?

Consider the already immigrated medical professionals living in the United States right now that are unable to practice because of the above described licensing issues.

To give a couple examples. If a nurse moves to the US and learns he can't practice without going back to medical school, he may opt instead to work a different job and defer his medical career. If a doctor moves to the US and is in the same position, she may choose to remain a stay-at-home mom and let her husband be the primary breadwinner.

There's also the arbitrage aspect here: globally we may have a healthcare worker shortage, but it may be more severe in one place than another. Reducing the friction involved in moving the workforce could allow workers that are in relative over-supply to move to an area with relative under-supply, improving the overall efficiency of the system.

> Consider the already immigrated medical professionals living in the United States right now that are unable to practice because of the above described licensing issues.

New York and New Jersey did this. In early 2020 (so two years ago). Despite this, they ran into extreme shortages. So now that we've done that, what next?

> If a doctor moves to the US and is in the same position, she may choose to remain a stay-at-home mom and let her husband be the primary breadwinner.

And is she just going to suddenly start working if the licensure requirement goes away? Some might, but a lot won't because they are already parenting. This is what I mean by these policies require years to have an impact.

Are you suggesting that people rely on unprecedented medical advancements as a policy solution?

:lol_sob: Why can't we have nice things mrcrumb1?? Hahaha.

But yes. Yes, I'm advocating that people be just a little bit more open minded and flexible about this issue and, ideally, the so many others like it. Sometimes it's quite depressing to consider the giant gap between how society functions today and how it could function if it operated by different rules.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com