ATLANTA (WAOK) - The U.S. will need 52 thousand more doctors by 2025, or millions of Americans might have no access to adequate healthcare, according to a new study.

Researchers say a shortage of primary care doctors could be the result of an aging population and the Affordable Care Act, which will expand health insurance coverage to an additional 38 million people.

Population growth will be another factor.

Researchers from Georgetown University and the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care in Washington, DC say the nation’s healthcare system could feel the effects of too few doctors before 2025 as more physicians retire and more Baby Boomers require medical care as they age.