Dr. Orient has an op-ed in the Washington Times entitled "Orient: Uncle Sam exacts penalty for quiting Medicare..." In its she asks about the role of special interests in protecting the Medicare System including the AMA.
She states "More likely it is to preserve the power and cash flow to the massive special-interest groups that “manage” and control the Medicare dollar. How much of it is drained into the administration of Medicare’s price controls, based on the AMA’s lucrative current procedural terminology (CPT) coding monopoly and its special committee to calculate how to divvy up the fees?"
Dr. Orient does point out how a 'free market' in medicine might scare some centralizers especially those in government.
"If we let some patients pay for medical care the way they pay for groceries, we’ll find out the true free-market price. Apparently, that is a terrifying prospect to somebody. That would explain the threat to use the law enforcement powers of the federal government against Medicare-free doctors."
Special interests and Federal bureaucrats should not be deciding how doctors practice medicine or the physicians-patient relationship.
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