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| Unionization is worth pursuing | ||
By Eric E. Shore, DO, MBA
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I think Mr. Lebowitz, in his article
on physicians' unions, has succinctly stated the status quo, and is to be commended
for his clarity. From his article, and the one with Dr. Lodise, there are two things that are eminently clear; first that the road to unionization, while difficult (and most physicians would wish it were unnecessary), is worth pursuing, even for the relatively modest goals that are achievable under our current legal environment and secondly, that the ultimate goal of unionization is not a better form of professional society, but a method by which physicians can deal, economically, with their de facto employers - the medical insurance companies/HMO's. I think the time has come for physicians to face the reality that we are not dealing with strictly patient care issues that could be easily handled via lobbying efforts of our professional societies. We are not dealing with negotiations among physicians employed by hospitals and their hospital employers, those have never been at issue. We are addressing the same issue that was initially addressed in the National Labor Relations Act - the economic relations of the relatively weak versus the economically powerful. Physicians today are in the position of their labor counterparts three generations ago. They, too, were faced with legal issues, but they fought for their rights and won. Contrary to the current government stance, we are not dealing with a free market situation. Physicians are not free to set their own fees (these are mandated by the insurers and the federal government itself), and we are currently powerless to change that. It is this aspect, more than any other, that creates the employer-employee relationship that leads to unionization and financial negotiations that are at the heart of the union movement. The question isn't should we form unions to protect ourselves, but will we do it in time, and have the intestinal fortitude to see them, and ourselves as we are, rather than as we would like to be. |
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