Doctors Move Left

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

As more doctors move from business owner to shift worker, they also move from political right to left:

Doctors were once overwhelmingly male and usually owned their own practices. They generally favored lower taxes and regularly fought lawyers to restrict patient lawsuits. Ronald Reagan came to national political prominence in part by railing against “socialized medicine” on doctors’ behalf.

But doctors are changing. They are abandoning their own practices and taking salaried jobs in hospitals, particularly in the North, but increasingly in the South as well. Half of all younger doctors are women, and that share is likely to grow.

Notice how this shift gets framed by the New York Times:

Indeed, after opposing almost every major health overhaul proposal for nearly a century, the American Medical Association supported President Obama’s legislation last year because the new law would provide health insurance to the vast majority of the nation’s uninsured, improve competition and choice in insurance, and promote prevention and wellness, the group said.

Comments

  1. Ben says:

    Doctors != AMA

    Some doctors I have asked view the AMA as a necessary evil; much as some quality teachers think their teacher’s union as crap. (And not
    even as necessary…)

    Dump the AMA. Figure out another standards organization for CPT/ICD codes. Open up certification. Let loose the hounds of hell, et cetera.

  2. Red says:

    Females generally like big daddy government and secured jobs where they don’t have to run their own practice. It’s not surprising the field would shift as it becomes more female.

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