Re: Health Care
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Tue Jul 28 13:36:18 2009
Right ... but the doctors were included as members of the "learned
professions." Who knew we were tonsil nazis?
Art
At Tue, 28 Jul 2009, DoctorJoe@aol.com wrote:
>
>In a message dated 7/28/09 8:11:24 AM, evsono@pipeline.com writes:
>
>> With the 1970's Supreme Court decision Goldfarb v Va State Bar,
>> physicians basically lost the ability to bargain collectively.
>>
>Actually, what Goldfarb did was to get the Court to opine that Congress did
>not intend any sweeping "learned profession" exclusion from the Sherman
>Act. The case was about lawyers, not doctors.
>
>The lawyers running a title examination scam wanted to say they weren't
>violating the anti-trust laws because they were a "learned profession," not
>part of "commerce." The Court said title exam work is a service, and the
>exchange of such a service for money is "commerce" in the common usage of that
>term.
>
>So the upshot is, "learned professions" can be prosecuted under the
>anti-trust laws for price-fixing and other anti-competitive activities. Here, it
>wasn't just an informal (or even formal) association of title attorneys. The
>schedule and its enforcement mechanism constituted price fixing since the
>record showed that the schedule, rather than being purely advisory, operated as
>a fixed, rigid price floor. The fee schedule was enforced through the
>prospect of professional discipline by the State Bar, by reason of attorneys'
>desire to comply with announced professional norms, and by the assurance that
>other lawyers would not compete by underbidding. In other words, the State
>Bar was "in on it" via the disciplinary process.
>
>Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar, 421 U.S. 773 (1975).
>
>I wonder how many MEDICAL boards are "in on it?" I'm absolutely sure a lot
>of "disruptive physician" cases are simply anti-competitive actions masked
>in administrative/quality assurance trappings. Et tu, Richard?
>
>Joe P.
>
>bcd=JulyExcfooterNO62)
--
art fougner, md
"May The Wings of Liberty Never Lose a Feather." - Jack Burton
