"Dave" wrote
You're proving my point.......

Yes, a point on which we have no disagreement - I just think that the rest
of the system needs fixing too.

By "recommending" fees and "sanctioning" MDs who bargain or advertise
their
prices. An MD who refuses to obey could well loose his license. The
proof?
When is the last time you saw an MD advertise his fees?

If that's indeed the case, somebody ought to go after them for price
fixing.
Such activities violate the Sherman Act, as a cases against the ABA in the
60s established.

That's exactly what needs to be done but I see neither candidate proposing
it.


One reason MDs don't advertise their fees is that it makes no economic
sense to do so. ...

But it would under your (Bush's?) plan which BTW is exactly what we all had
before HMOs. I'd price shop if I was paying the first $xxxx. I tried to
back then but MDs wouldn't (couldn't?) disclose their rates over the phone
let alone advertise them.

Often part of this 'gouge' funds the kickbacks drug companies pay
the MDs for prescribing their brand vs another. Hey - its enough to make
the mob jealous!

If anyone has proof of that he ought to get in touch with Eliot Spitzer,
since commercial bribery is a crime in his state, and he has great
political
ambitions.

Who's Eliot Spitzer? I think they call it "commisions" instead of
commercial bribery. Isn't it legal?