The Irony

Catherine Rampell has a very good article in the New York Times about the way states have disinvested in higher education, particularly at disadvantaged schools teaching majors and professions of high importance—particularly nurses. Some anecdata:

At one community college in North Carolina — a state with a severe nursing shortage — nursing program applicants so outnumber available slots that there is a waiting list just to get on the waiting list.

That’s a troubling data point since, as we know, there’s a nursing shortage and a primary care physician shortage too (to the tune of about 20,000 physicians at some point in the near future).

It’s ironic, also: one of the important pressures on state budgets is health care costs, particularly Medicaid. In essence, in a very direct way, our health care cost problem now will strangle our care later.