Exploitation of the Elite: A Case for Physician Unionization

Abstract

Our intuition tells us that physicians are elites, and therefore they cannot be exploited. Relying on this intuition, we adopt policies which attempt to provide a health care system that gives first-quality care, at the lowest prices, delivered through a “free-market” system. As the key gatekeepers to health care, physicians are thus caught in the middle. Top-notch American health care costs money and for-profit MCOs must watch their bottom line. Rationing, therefore, is key. The issue is, assuming we have decided that free-market health care is the solution, how much should physicians have to sacrifice in the name of the greater capitalist good? This piece recognizes that physicians have a legitimate claim that in the drive to reform health care should not be overlooked.

Keywords: doctors, physicians, health care system, free market, medical ethics, managed health care, health care costs, rationing, MCOs, managed care organizations, patients' rights, Quality Health Care coalition Act, American Medical Association, unionization

JEL Classification: I11, I18, I19, K32