Monday, October 1, 2012

Hsieh PJM OpEd: The Harms of Medical Licensing Laws

Today's PJ Media has published my latest OpEd, "How Medical Licensing Laws Harm Patients and Trap Doctors".

My twin themes are that (1) Government licensing of doctors is both morally and economically wrong, and (2) the interaction between current licensing laws and upcoming ObamaCare laws will harm both patients and doctors in unanticipated ways.

This piece is adapted from a short talk I recently gave on Milton Friedman and medical licensing. I don’t agree with Friedman on some important issues, but he was excellent on the issue of occupational licensure.

I also cite economist Shirly Svorny and Dr. Milton Wolf for their proposals to move us in the right direction.