Milton Friedman on Medicine and health care
The Hippocratic oath, which all of you probably took when you entered practice but didn’t read very carefully, contains many fine and noble sentiments and statements. But if you examine it more carefully, you will see it is essentially a trade union agreement.
Context. From a talk to physicians, published in Private Practice in July 1981, on the trend toward government control of medicine and the prospects for reversing it. He goes on to cite the oath’s clauses limiting students to physicians’ children and dividing jurisdiction between surgeons and physicians.
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Milton Friedman, “The Market and Human Freedom” (Private Practice (July 1981); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, September 9, 1981, pp. 19996 to 19997, introduced by Representative Larry McDonald of Georgia as “Professor Friedman’s recent article on this subject” in “Private Practice magazine for July 1981”, 1981), Congressional Record, September 9, 1981, p. 19996. https://miltonfriedman.org/quotes/hippocratic-oath-trade-union-agreement-1981
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He also said
Hippocrates himself gave his name to the Hippocratic oath, but he had nothing to do with it. What happened is, as most of you probably know, when he died, the island was full of physicians and of patients who had been attracted by Hippocrates’ fame. But when he died, the fame was not there any more and the attraction was not so great, so you had an oversupply of physicians. Of course, physicians didn’t like that so they organized themselves into a group and they drafted the Hippocratic oath.
Context. From a talk to physicians, published in Private Practice in July 1981, on the trend toward government control of medicine and the prospects for reversing it. Recalling a visit to Kos, Hippocrates’ island, which he had meant to use to open the Free to Choose episode on labor unions. This is his account of the oath’s origin as given in the talk.
The Market and Human FreedomSpeech, 1981, Private Practice (July 1981); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, September 9, 1981, pp. 19996 to 19997, introduced by Representative Larry McDonald of Georgia as “Professor Friedman’s recent article on this subject” in “Private Practice magazine for July 1981”, Congressional Record, September 9, 1981, p. 19996Checked against the sourceRead the originalI have examined the story in this area in the United States, in particular with the American Medical Association during the course of the 1920’s and 1930’s. It’s an extreme example of a very powerful trade union which succeeded in keeping down the number of physicians and in the process raising costs, which succeeded in retarding the development of efficient group medical practice and in the process reduced the quality. I mention this not to attack the American Medical Association or the members of it. They are noble, able people who wanted good things, but were misled. But only to suggest again a sense in which the developments in medicine are not special to medicine.
Context. From a talk to physicians, published in Private Practice in July 1981, on the trend toward government control of medicine and the prospects for reversing it. On the American Medical Association in the 1920s and 1930s, a history he says he had examined.
The Market and Human FreedomSpeech, 1981, Private Practice (July 1981); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, September 9, 1981, pp. 19996 to 19997, introduced by Representative Larry McDonald of Georgia as “Professor Friedman’s recent article on this subject” in “Private Practice magazine for July 1981”, Congressional Record, September 9, 1981, p. 19996Checked against the sourceRead the originalThat is simply mercantilist confusion. Our benefits from international trade come from imports not exports and there is always a rate of exchange at which these will balance. If at that rate of exchange it is profitable to produce an SST for export, fine; if not, there is no case for subsidizing it.
Context. From a statement he sent to Senator William Proxmire’s Joint Economic Committee in December 1972 for its hearings on the supersonic transport (SST). The Senate had voted in March 1971 to halt federal funding of an American SST, and the hearings considered whether to revive it. “That” is the claim that subsidizing the SST would help the U.S. balance of payments, which he has just called logically fallacious.
Statement on the SSTLetter, 1972, Letter to Senator William Proxmire, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, dated December 11, 1972, submitting a statement for the record of the committee’s hearings on the supersonic transport; printed in full in the Congressional Record, Senate, January 11, 1973, p. 796, inserted by Senator Proxmire., Congressional Record, January 11, 1973, p. 796Checked against the sourceRead the original
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