Seven Long-Term Healthcare Trends To Worry About

(MoneyWatch)  For a short break from our normal diet of current healthcare challenges and problems, I thought I'd draw your attention to Richard Eskow's recent post on seven long-term medical and healthcare trends that should be on the radar of anyone concerned about healthcare issues. His post over at The Sentinel Effect is definitely worth reading in its entirety, so I'll just highlight his first three items:

1. Doctors abandoning Medicare and Medicaid as reforms like SCHIP boost the number of eligible patients;
2. Shortages of primary-care doctors, again partly because of increased demand brought about by the expansion of healthcare access;
3. Underutilization of medical services as people -- particularly those on high-deductible health plans -- "self-ration" care;

It's a great, though-provoking list that works its way from immediate concerns to some seemingly far-out but far-from-inconceivable issues. Check it out.