New law will create a shortage of health screenings

That's what the New York Times should have titled its blog post "New Law Will Require Free Health Screenings."

After all, if you force insurance companies to let patients completely ignore the cost of preventive care, they'll demand even more of it than they do when they have to fork over a co-pay. But there won't be a magical increase in the number of new physicians to perform all of these physicals, mammograms, and other procedures deemed to be preventive care. In fact, we can bank on fewer good doctors in the future than we have now, thanks to falling reimbursements and the soul-killing paperwork they increasingly have to spend their time doing.

Let's call a spade a spade: "Free health screenings" really means "health screening shortage."