On health care, deposit insurance, drugs, consulting, space, Wall Street

SIR – The section on health care in your special briefing on America’s election accurately diagnosed the system’s two most important problems: soaring costs, which stand at $2.5 trillion, and the lack of insurance coverage for 46m people (“Running for cover”, October 4th). Although Barack Obama’s health-care plan addresses coverage and John McCain’s targets costs, both ignore a critical flaw in the delivery of American health care: an insufficient number of primary-care doctors. Studies on both sides of the Atlantic have repeatedly demonstrated that primary care provides access, improves outcomes and lowers costs. Yet a national primary-care shortage has been looming for several years in America as doctors retire. One recent study found that just 2% of all the graduates from medical schools in the United States plan to go into primary care, whereas the numbers seeking training in dermatology and radiology are soaring. Neither cost controls nor universal ... (link)