(CNN) Health experts warn that recent health care and immigration policies could worsen an ongoing doctor shortage, raising the question of why the federal government doesn't train more doctors in the first place. Some physicians' groups continue to call for an increase in the federal funding of medical residency programs, the training that doctors get after medical school in specialties like surgery and pediatrics. In addition to primary care doctors, Orlowski said, some other specialties -- such as general surgery and psychiatry -- also fail to fill regional needs. The country needs more primary care doctors, Fisher agreed, but the remedy has more to do with redistributing doctors, making health care more efficient and changing the financial incentives that drive health care in its current direction, he said. But when it comes to the prospect of training more doctors, she said, there's more at stake than health care alone.

Source: CNN March 13, 2017 15:45 UTC