In the earliest stages of the debate on the Affordable Care Act – such as it was – some sentient beings (we among them) questioned not just the wisdom of chaotically expanding  the system, but the simple arithmetic that should have been undeniable, or was to all but the true believers.  In another example of “Progressive” innumeracy, The New York Times, the paper of record, the one that often does some odd thing to “All the News that’s Fit to Print” now gets it:

The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that in 2015 the country will have 62,900 fewer doctors than needed. And that number will more than double by 2025, as the expansion of insurance coverage and the aging of baby boomers drive up demand for care. Even without the health care law, the shortfall of doctors in 2025 would still exceed 100,000.

Mandating confiscatory taxes, mandating patients, and mandating “free” medical care doesn’t produce a single new “care-giver.” With an extant shortage, only to grow dramatically in the near future one doesn’t need to have much imagination to predict the decline of accessible quality care.

The law of supply and demand is immutable . . . except to Congressional Democrats and presidents who attended Punahou, Occidental, Columbia and Harvard Law.