MD's to the left

Very interesting trend noted in a New York Times article today: a change in the medical profession from predominantly male and owning their own practices to half the young doctors being female and working in salaried jobs.

And the political results? Definitely trending to the left.

Psychiatrists were always more liberal than most doctors and psychoanalysts even more than that. So I was not out of step with my subspecialty. But I definitely did not want to get into political discussions with the typical doctor -- Republican through and through.

As the Times states:

That change could have a profound effect on the nation’s health care debate. 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.

Another sign: in Maine, a conservative legislator introduced a bill that would limit doctors' liability from patients' malpractice suits. She thought the medical lobby would cheer; instead they asked her to withdraw the bill.

Because so many doctors are no longer in business for themselves, many of the issues that were once priorities for doctors’ groups . . . have been displaced by public health and safety concerns. . . .

The Maine doctors’ group once opposed health insurance mandates because they increase costs to employers, but it now supports them, despite Republican opposition, because they help patients. . . .

The executive director of the Oregon Medical Association said: “When I came here, it was an old boys’ club of conservative Republicans.” Now she says that her group lobbies for public health issues that it long ignored, like insurance coverage for people with disabilities.

A welcome awakening.

Ralph