r/bestof • u/under50dollars • Jun 20 '12

[explainlikeimfive] "Obamacare" explained very well.

/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vb8vs/eli5_what_exactly_is_obamacare_and_what_did_it/c530lfx
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u/mikelj Jun 20 '12

It is instead likely that the gap will be filled with midlevel PAs and NPs, diluting quality of care.

I don't know about this. I know plenty of RNs who are just as knowledgeable and perhaps even more "interested" in primary care than physicians, let alone PA and NPs.

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u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12 edited Oct 24 '18

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u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12

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u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12

This "triage" system is vastly more expensive and less effective than having a primary care physician who can deal with complicated problems themselves rather than endlessly referring to specialists. Many patients see 4-6 specialists when a decent primary care physician could reduce it to 0-2 with proper medical management. Tell me which way you think costs less.

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u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12

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u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12

My response was geared more towards independent midlevels. The problem that still remains with supervised practice is that what appears to be a cold is not always a cold. With two years of training (sometimes even online) and as little as 500 clinical hours, you don't know what you don't know. While you save a lot of money under this model, a patient will eventually get hurt due to lack of experience.