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Calling medical education and licensing a monopoly is pretty intellectually dishonest. To borrow the OP's analogy, that is like saying drivers with licenses hav

by abakker 10y ago

Calling medical education and licensing a monopoly is pretty intellectually dishonest. To borrow the OP's analogy, that is like saying drivers with licenses have a monopoly on driving. Seems like a pretty strange argument. Certainly, the medical industry does not face the same competitive pressure from outside, but that is the nature of industry in general. Rather than calling medicine a monopoly, it is more accurate to accuse heal care providers and practitioners of colluding to ensure prices are high. Monopolies by definition cannot collude since there would be nobody to collude with. In the grand scheme of things, I believe medical costs are accurately priced and it is people's wages that are not adjusting correctly.

zdean 10y ago
The AMA controls the requirements for licensing, the schools that can educate for the purpose of licensing, and the number of licenses that can be issued. Exactly what is intellectually dishonest about calling that a monopoly? http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2007/09/a_spoonful_of_monopoly_helps_t http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2007/09/a_spoonf...
frisco 10y ago
> To borrow the OP's analogy, that is like saying drivers with licenses have a monopoly on driving. Not so, as the number of medical residents is de facto set by Congress (due to how the funding system works), thereby limiting the number of doctors in each specialty.
- sangnoir 10y ago
  If local production capacity is too low, why not import them?
hanoz 10y ago
like saying drivers with licenses have a monopoly on driving ...if drivers got to set the test standard and pass rate.
egocodedinsol 10y ago
> that is like saying drivers with licenses have a monopoly on driving. The critical difference is that there's no limit on the number of people who can get standard driver's licenses, but there is on medical licenses. It's not just the AMA directly, though. Residencies are funded federally, I believe. I'm pretty sure the numbers per specialty are centrally controlled, but I'm not certain how the process works. And I don't know who limits the medical school slots, but I'm under the impression medical schools can't just increase the number of students at will. All that being said, keeping the supply artificially low probably has some benefits.
IndianAstronaut 10y ago
Any system where they control entry not just by a passing threshold but by raw numbers or on a curved exam scale is a monopolistic regime. They aren't just looking for people who can pass the test and meet qualifications but to keep a throttle on numbers.

by abakker 10y ago

zdean 10y ago

The AMA controls the requirements for licensing, the schools that can educate for the purpose of licensing, and the number of licenses that can be issued. Exactly what is intellectually dishonest about calling that a monopoly? http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2007/09/a_spoonful_of_monopoly_helps_t http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2007/09/a_spoonf...

frisco 10y ago

> To borrow the OP's analogy, that is like saying drivers with licenses have a monopoly on driving. Not so, as the number of medical residents is de facto set by Congress (due to how the funding system works), thereby limiting the number of doctors in each specialty.

sangnoir 10y ago
If local production capacity is too low, why not import them?

hanoz 10y ago

like saying drivers with licenses have a monopoly on driving ...if drivers got to set the test standard and pass rate.

egocodedinsol 10y ago

> that is like saying drivers with licenses have a monopoly on driving. The critical difference is that there's no limit on the number of people who can get standard driver's licenses, but there is on medical licenses. It's not just the AMA directly, though. Residencies are funded federally, I believe. I'm pretty sure the numbers per specialty are centrally controlled, but I'm not certain how the process works. And I don't know who limits the medical school slots, but I'm under the impression medical schools can't just increase the number of students at will. All that being said, keeping the supply artificially low probably has some benefits.

IndianAstronaut 10y ago

Any system where they control entry not just by a passing threshold but by raw numbers or on a curved exam scale is a monopolistic regime. They aren't just looking for people who can pass the test and meet qualifications but to keep a throttle on numbers.