This article originally appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer on March 24, 2026.
Finding a doctor in Pennsylvania is getting harder. Across the commonwealth, patients are waiting weeks for appointments, and more than 1.6 million Pennsylvanians live in counties officially designated as primary care shortage areas.
In Philadelphia alone, the average wait time to see a doctor is about 30 days — more than 10 days longer than in cities like Washington, D.C., and New York.
The physician shortage that policymakers had long warned about is no longer theoretical. It is already affecting patients across Pennsylvania, in both rural communities and in cities.
But a proposal now before the General Assembly could help relieve some of that pressure. House Bill 2121, introduced earlier this year, would create a new pathway for internationally trained physicians who are currently unable to practice medicine in Pennsylvania, despite years of training and experience.
