Study: Health reform will not overwhelm CO's medical system

Though Colorado will add 510,000 to insurance rolls under health care reform, the state will need far fewer new doctors than previously thought, in part because those patients will be shifting from emergency rooms and other existing care, a report says. Even with that many newly insured, Colorado will need only about 141 new doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants to cover the added visits, according to the Colorado Health Institute. "Are we ready for that onslaught of people?" asked institute president Michele Lueck. Analysts previously assumed "the sky was falling" in a deluge of new patients.