Opinion: Reform Must Focus on Primary Care Physicians

Although the House and Senate health reform bills could provide coverage to "millions of Americans," insurance "does not necessarily mean access to health care," argues Basim Khan, an internal medicine resident at UC-San Francisco. The number of primary care physicians in the U.S. has significantly dropped in the last five decades, but the proposed "reform bills do little to reverse this trend," Khan writes. Khan concludes, "Congress must prioritize funding for primary care in the final bill," including expanding training opportunities and offering loan repayment programs.

• "Fixing Health Care: Primary Care Is Job No. 1" (Khan, Los Angeles Times, 11/5).