The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the major portions of healthcare reform in a 5-4 decision in June 2012. Now that the U.S. elections have concluded--thus eliminating the possibility of a Romney government, and presumably meaning that so-called Obamacare is likelier to be here to stay--it's a good time to ask what the legislation means for medical education and for physicians' careers.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has recently triggered a debate within the medical community about both its potential impact on medical trainees and on practicing physicians. While the president of the American Medical Student Association has publicly supported the changes in a recent official memo, a recent survey indicates that 40 percent of medical students may not even be aware of the provisions of the act.

Institutional changes can often be double-edged swords, and this series of proposed changes is no different. There are both potential benefits and downsides to what is now widely seen as almost inevitable healthcare reform.

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There are two potentially positive outcomes:

1. More medical students may be drawn to primary care specialties. With a new emphasis on higher reimbursements for primary care specialties, including internal medicine and family medicine, the direction of medical education could be affected. A prominent healthcare economic think tank posits that healthcare reform will expand scholarships and loan repayment programs in order to draw medical students into primary care specialties. Not so long ago, many medical graduates were drawn into subspecialties.

This could also cause a shift in medical school elective selection down the line, with competition for previously popular subspecialty electives shifting to primary care ones. It is thought that these changes would not only improve access and funding for preventative care, but that they are also popular with many current medical students.

2. There will be more admissions slots at existing schools, and more medical schools. For the first time since the 1990s, there are 18 medical schools in the United States in various stages of accreditation and development. Eleven have opened since 2007, and enrollment in both allopathic and osteopathic medical schools has expanded in recent years. The Association of American Medical Colleges has also said that a record number of minority students enrolled this past year.

[Learn why minorities still don't feel completely comfortable in medicine.]

There are also a couple of potential downsides:

Read more here:

Weigh Obamacare's Pros, Cons for Medical Students