[ExI] Yet another health care debate

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2008/9/24 Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com>:

> Also---that paragraph starts by referring to the necessary bureaucracy
> and statistics necessary for socialist improvisation. Of course, I have in
> mind a completely free system, and wonder how it would work. Your
> paragraph (elided) mentioned the stranglehold that the medical establishment
> has, and much the same is true here, I gather. The AMA
> has a self-interest (unlike a free market) of securing the highest possible
> salaries for their members, and of course limiting membership.
>
> So I am actually calling for removal of all government licensing (not
> overnight, but gradually). We need to learn as advanced industrial
> nations how to make good use of certification agencies who back
> (or won't back) the reputation of doctors, hospitals, and so on.

What would end up happening is that the existing medical organisations
will say that only *they* are able to act as certification agencies,
and that anyone who claims otherwise is dangerous and not to be
trusted with your health. It is what has happened in Australia
whenever the government has raised the possibility of setting up
training schemes in parallel to those of the specialist colleges in
order to address a perceived shortage. The government has always
backed down.



-- 
Stathis Papaioannou