This spring, more than 9,000 medical school graduates were left without a residency placement, a record high that exposes a deep flaw in how Washington funds physician training.

Without securing residencies, these physicians-to-be must either face a lost year and try again, take up research or administrative work, or leave medicine altogether. Meanwhile, the U.S. faces a growing physician shortage. And incredibly, federal law still restricts how many doctors can enter residency training each year.

This tragic waste of talent that could be working to serve patients is the product of government regulation and bottleneck. It is limiting the number of doctors in the U.S. at a time when huge waves of the baby boomer generation are reaching retirement, driving demand for health care services to record levels.

The government’s own Health Services and Resources Administration in a 2024 report projects the physician shortage will reach 187,000 by 2037. To improve the number of available residencies and match more doctors to the positions where they are needed, the U.S. must return the physician training process back to the supply and demand forces of the market.

After medical school, graduates must complete a residency — a hands-on training period under supervision which is required for licensure.

So, who actually pays these resident physicians? Largely, you do, not all through your hospital bill as you might expect, but primarily through federal Medicare taxes, which subsidize graduate medical education in teaching hospitals.

In the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, Congress capped the number of residency positions that Medicare........

© The Hill