Post by Sara Feidelson. Colgate Class of 2022.

Source: Narea, Nicole. “The US needs foreign doctors and nurses to fight coronavirus. Immigration policy isn’t helping.” Vox, March 30, 2020.

Nicole Narea introduces the issue of a lack of medical professionals amidst the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, and how it could be alleviated through less restrictive immigration policies. The shortage of medical personnel in the United States has been an ongoing issue, only further emphasized by the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The section of the article titled “Hurdles for medical workers in the immigration system” explains the stringent process of becoming a permanent doctor in the United States, highlighting the reasoning for the shortage. While nearly 4,000 foreign doctors per year are medically trained in the United States, over half of those individuals are mandated to return home for a minimum of two years before becoming eligible for an H-1B visa or green card. Nevertheless, each year, countries are granted only a certain amount of green cards, forcing trained individuals to wait or move their efforts and talents to less restrictive countries. For example, Indian doctors, “… which produce about a third of all foreign doctors training in the US,” face a 20-year wait to come to the United States. In addition to the per-country green card maximum, the Conrad 30 Program allows each state to give 30 waivers to foreign doctors under the condition that the state chooses their location. Another route foreign doctors can take is through the Department of Health and Services waiver, where the doctor must conduct research of the department’s interest and then become placed in the location of the department’s choice.

The current immigration policy implemented in the United States is exacerbating the shortage of doctors. As the coronavirus spreads throughout the country, doctors and nurses are becoming infected and unable to treat the influx of patients. The shortening supply of medical personnel cannot meet the increasing demand for medical care. Given that the medical field requires years of training for a license, the job is not substitutable by an individual of a different field. This condition makes the supply of licensed doctors in the United States somewhat inelastic. Especially now, the finite amount of doctors is further restricted by the United States immigration policy. The timeline the United States immigration policy poses on foreign doctors is too long considering the contagion of the virus. Narea also mentions that the policy’s placement of doctors in specific locations upon approval prohibits their relocation to where the virus is hitting the hardest. While Narea poses possible immigration policy reforms to alleviate the shortage, the outstanding economic point within the article is that loosening immigration restrictions could help to alleviate the disequilibrium of the shortening supply of doctors and the increasingly high demand for medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic.