What connection is there between a government option being created and doctors choosing to practice in a rural community???
As the son of a rural doctor who kept his practice open long after he should have retired (until he was felled by a stroke) the connection is there, but it is not what aflababble thinks it is.
The main problem rural doctors have, and the big reason for the shortage, is getting paid.
My fathers practice was in rural Alabama, in a county where the only industry was agriculture.
When I was young, before Medicaid, he routinely got paid in watermelons, beans and other produce. The people, mostly black sharecroppers, had no money.
Medicaid in Alabama was a problem to deal with, mostly due to their practice of retroactively disallowing drugs which were on the list when administered, thus sticking the doctor with the cost. However, it allowed my family to have a decent income and the patients to eat their own food and not use it to pay the doctor bill.
From my experience, I would have to say that a single payer health plan would increase incentives for doctors to open rural clinics. There are definite lifesytle advantages, especially if one likes being a big fish in a little pond.
