I personally had over 12 years experience as a union representative for the American Federation of Teachers before I became a physician. I was a teacher in a Philadelphia School System where we had the strongest Teachers Union in the country at one time. The effects of HMO's are far-reaching in the medical community. The ripple effects are horrendous, and the only ones reaping any profit from this rape of medicine are obviously the HMO's. Nothing up until to this point has been able to ameliorate the situation.
Legislation takes long.
A strong union can and does have an effect, and it seems to be the only solution for the immediate future, if in fact we are to make medicine in this country the best medicine in the world. It is extremely frustrating and difficult for dedicated physicians who spent years and years in medical school and residencies to make their own medical decisions as they were trained to do. To have some secretary from a HMO come into your office and tell you what to do is a horrendous scenario. I think physicians see this as an affront and also as a danger to the health care of their patients. South Philadelphia is a very tight community and usually considered pro-union.