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Freakonomics Radio

650. The Doctor Won’t See You Now

51 min episode · 2 min read
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Episode

51 min

Read time

2 min

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • Why does America have fewer doctors per capita than other countries?
  • How did the 1910 Flexner Report reshape medical education permanently?
  • What factors drive physician burnout and career abandonment today?

What It Covers

America faces a physician shortage of 187,000 doctors by 2037 due to aging population, limited medical school slots, and burnout driving doctors away.

Key Questions Answered

  • Why does America have fewer doctors per capita than other countries?
  • How did the 1910 Flexner Report reshape medical education permanently?
  • What factors drive physician burnout and career abandonment today?

Notable Moment

Walensky describes calling hospitals as CDC director during COVID, discovering they could not connect vaccination records with hospitalization data due to fragmented systems.

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