Re: AMA Union

[rd@cottonwood.com (Rick Dahlgren)]

It would appear to me at first glance that the antitrust exemption
historically bestowed upon the insurance industry would be extended to the
providers through their physicians.  I have long been for revocation of the
insurance industry's antitrust protections.  This amplifies the importance
of accountability  to an industry that has had gone too long without any
consumer safeguards or "real" competitive forces.

Rick Dahlgren
Cottonwood Communications
rd@cottonwood.com

>What to make of the AMA attempting to unionize doctors and the Congress
>considering exempting such a union from the antitrust law?
>
>It seems like bad policy.  Why not allow any other trade association to
>"unionize" and fix prices?  The whole premise of the discussion seems to
>suggest that the human patient is no longer the client of the doctor,
>instead the third-party payor is.  And, the lawyer in me wonders if the
>strength of the HMOs isn't somehow related to tort reform.  Just wondering.
>
>Brian Blackman
>(512) 252-3179
>bblackman@i-enternet.com