Until fairly recently there was a national shortage of doctors in the United States. The reason can be traced to a long campaign by the American Medical Association (AMA) to restrict the number of doctors in accordance with the classic economic theory of supply and demand: if there were fewer doctors, their income would be higher. In the early 1960s, the United States had few doctors per 100,000 members of the population than such countries as Russian, Bulgaria, and Argentina.
Since then the AMA has changed its attitude, for it has become apparent at last that doctors’ income are not subject to the classical supply-demand theory, in as much as sick people do not choose to need the attention of a physician. In fact, doctor’s fees tend to be highest in the areas where supply of doctors is the greatest, such as Los Angeles and New York City. The AMA has now ended its opposition to expanded medical-school admissions, and the ratio of doctors to the population has improved for over a decade: from 156 per 100,000 in 1966 to 174 per 100,000 in 1976.