It's time to fund physician shortage programs by abandoning unrestricted state subsidies to medical schools.

Last fiscal year, New York State spent more than $135 million to subsidize medical education. More than 95 percent of these funds were used to defray the general operating costs of the state's nine private and four public medical schools. Only $7 million was spent directly to support physician shortage and minority recruitment programs. This article argues that unrestricted subsidies are inequitable, wasteful, unnecessary, and inflationary; therefore they should be abandoned, in favor of programs that contribute directly to the supply of primary care physicians in medically underserved areas.