2 thoughts on “Friedman on Health Care

  1. Ironically, were it not for the AMA, we would likely have gotten a “socialized” single-payer system in the 1940s. Friedman was of course right that some form of monopolization, at least of basic and emergency medicine, inevitably would result from medical licensure.

    But to state that this is somehow part of a wider trend toward “the collectivization of our society” is ludicrous, and I chortled at his line about how “people are becoming more sophisticated about what government can accomplish” because of failed welfare programs, given that it’s precisely that attitude which leads us to the likes of Rush Limbaugh.

    A question on this point: how much influence does the AMA have over nursing degrees?Report

  2. To clarify, I think that to the extent our society has, and continues to, become collectivized, it has done so largely in response not to government control but to the nature of capitalism and market pressures, supplanting the authentic person with the demographic identifier.Report

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