Howell Woltz
  • Home
  • Books
  • Film
  • His TEDX talk
  • Take Action
  • Contact
    • Press Releases
  • Blog
  • Epstein Log and Black Book

Fix Healthcare by Ending Medical Monopoly

1/18/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture

​
























As recently as the 1920s, America had what was considered by the rest of the world to be its best healthcare system.  The cost of American healthcare was also the lowest among nations considered to be "modern."  This was the result of what was known as the Lodge System.  Most Americans, regardless of ethnic or religious stripe were members of some fraternal order.

The "lodge" was a community within each community which supported its members in hard times, but more (perhaps most) importantly, it was also the source of  healthcare.  The lodge contracted with a local physician to provide medical care for members and their families with average terms ranging from $1 per month in rural areas to $2 per month in cities.  When a member or family member became ill, the lodge's physician came to their home and provided medical services at little or no additional charge other than the cost of medicine.

THE MONOPOLY IS GRANTED CONTROL OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA
Until 1929, the free market determined the cost of healthcare, not insurance companies, government, or medical monopolies, and it worked.  With a handful of donation dollars, however, this all changed with one act of Congress.  A small lobbying group from Chicago known as the AMA (American Medical Association) lobbied the federal legislature to outlaw lodge practice, which Congress did, though this was outside of its constitutional authority or purview.  

Medical costs doubled within the next half-decade.  The AMA then lobbied to control licensing not only of those who could legally practice medicine, but also which universities and colleges were allowed to teach the subject. Medical costs again quickly doubled.

The first casualties of the monopoly control of medicine were the black medical schools, which were thriving in the 1930s. But it would be more than a generation before black doctors were again licensed to practice medicine by the privately operated AMA monopoly. 

Licensing became ever more restrictive to reduce the competition and drive up the earnings of the monopoly's members.  New licensees barely met the attrition rate of doctors retiring or quitting the practice of medicine, even as the baby-boom doubled the nation's population.  The cost of medical care, as a result,  again multiplied.

GOVERNMENT INTERVENES
In the 1960s, the U.S. Government absorbed the public's medical care with Medicaid and Medicare.  Costs again skyrocketed, never to be fair or affordable again, until the two market disruptions of monopoly and government were one day removed.

The outcome of monopoly is always the same--the commodity controlled becomes far more expensive.  The outcome of government intervention is always the same--the service being provided becomes inefficient, fraught with fraud, and ultimately a bureaucratic nightmare,  increasing the cost of that being controlled.  

America now has the most expensive medical care in the world---by far---yet ranks behind all of its peer nations and 32nd in terms of quality of care.  

THE SOLUTION
As in most cases, all that is needed is for government to return to Rule of Law, and remove the disruptions it caused by exceeding its constitutional boundaries.
FREE THE MARKET
1.  Any student granted a degree in medicine by a college or university has the right and privilege to practice that craft under the United States Constitution. Any further restrictions are the purview of the States, not Washington. What constitutes "medicine" should be up to the colleges, universities--and consumers--not a government-sanctioned private monopoly.  The shortage of medical practitioners would come to an end quickly, while concurrently creating a myriad of alternative treatments that are banned or outlawed by the monopoly--though effective.  RESULT- Medical costs would plummet through competition.

CHANGE OR ELIMINATE THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN MEDICINE
2.  Government has no constitutional role in the practice of medicine, but in the interim (as the market rights itself from control of the monopoly and government) it could act as the "lodge," contracting with practitioners for a monthly fee, while allotting groups of patients unable to afford the high cost of monopoly care--but on a fixed basis--as in the practice of old, which worked. The doctor receives the monthly stipend for caring for his allotted citizens, but nothing additional is paid when care is required. Extraordinary costs and care would be the purview of the States,  based on what the local populations and legislatures are willing to absorb.

By forcing government to return to constitutional bounds and ending the reign of America's medical monopoly--healthcare could quickly return to what it was less than a century ago--the very best in the world, at the very lowest of costs.

A RETURN TO RULE OF LAW and A RETURN TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION will truly make America great again, regardless of who is running it.   

Howell W. Woltz
Howell is the Author of "The Way Back to America: 10 steps to return the United States to constitutional government."

*** Have you read Howell's new #1 international bestseller, "Justice Restored: 10 steps to end mass incarceration in America"? It is also available now on Amazon or in a bookstore near you.
​ 
​

2 Comments
Dan Todd
8/5/2018 01:53:13 am

Cmon, seriously? How can you be that ideologically biased on absolutely everything? You mean to say, in your blog post about the monopoly of the medical system by the medical doctor associations, that until the 1920's, people got their health coverage through their UNION. The substitution by "Lodge" is pretty slimy... God forbid you told the truth on both sides. What is it with you Americans that makes you so ridiculously polarized? Why not do whatever works best? Trade unions are as capitalist as it gets, even Adam Smith talks about how regulations for workers are right and just but those for the bosses usually aren't.

That's pretty low man. Truth used to mean something.

Reply
Howell Woltz
8/5/2018 06:39:14 am

Actually, Dan, I did not mean 'union' or substitute the word 'lodge' but your ignorance is understandable. Even Americans are largely unaware of this history and no one would expect a hardcore socialist to know (or admit) that there could be a private alternative that actually worked far, far better than unions and socialised medicine ever did, so here's a quick primer on the subject from an old history book if you are really interested in the subject (though it sounds like you just wanted to bust my chops for some reason ;-) :

"Before the rise of the welfare state, lodges were rivaled only by churches as organizational providers of social welfare. By conservative estimates eighteen million American men and women were members in 1920 at least three out of every ten adult males. While fraternal societies differed in ethnicity, class, and gender, most shared a common set of characteristics. In general, this included a decentralized lodge system, some sort of ritual, and the payment of cash benefits in times of sickness and death.

By the turn of the century, an increasing number of societies began to add treatment by a doctor to their menu of services. This arrangement was known as lodge practice. It involved a simple contract under which a physician provided care in exchange for an annual salary determined by the size of lodge membership. To qualify, a prospective lodge doctor had to win an election by the members. Generally lodge practice plans did not extend beyond basic primary care and minor surgery, although a few provided hospitalization.

Lodge practice became particularly extensive in urban and industrial centers. In 1915, for example, Dr. S.S. Goldwater, Health Commissioner of New York City, went so far as to assert that in many communities it had become “the chosen or established method of dealing with sickness among the relatively poor.” In the Lower East Side of New York City, he noted, 500 physicians catered to Jewish societies alone. Among blacks in New Orleans there were over 600 fraternal societies with lodge practice during the 1920s.

Nationally, the two leading providers of lodge practice among native whites were the Foresters and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. By 1910, both organizations had over 2,000 doctors under contract to look after the medical needs of about 600,000 members. Yet, aside from the common thread of lodge practice, the Foresters and Eagles were actually quite unalike as fraternal societies.

The Foresters

The Foresters traced their origins directly to the Ancient Order of Foresters, a British organization. The ritual drew inspiration from Robin Hood and his legendary adventures in Sherwood Forest. In keeping with the medieval motif, the lodges were called “courts” and the supreme leader a “chief ranger.” Both women and men could join (although in separate courts) and the only tests for membership were belief in a supreme being and good moral character.

Foresters were quintessential internationalists. In an age of self-conscious Anglo-Saxon exclusivity, they were notable among fraternal societies for seeking converts not only in Europe but also in Asia. The chief ranger for over two decades was a Dr. Oronhyatekha, a Canadian Mohawk. Equally remarkable for the time, his ancestry was not a cause of embarrassment for the members; in fact, they wore it as a badge of distinction. One member boasted that “There is not a Forester in the wide world but knows that this full-blooded Indian chief is the one man to whom the Order should be thankful for its wonderful growth.”

The Eagles

While the Foresters eschewed nationalism, their leading rival for lodge practice, the Fraternal Order of Eagles was almost a caricature of apple-pie Americanism. The Eagles opened their first lodge in Seattle, Washington, in 1898. The members embraced a fun-loving and informal style quite unlike more solemn co-fraternalists, such as the Free Masons. The aeries (as Eagles called their lodges), with their well-stocked bars, often served double duty as local community centers. This freewheeling behavior earned the Eagles an unsavory reputation in some quarters. In 1910, McClure’s Magazine characterized the group as “a great national organization of sporting men, bartenders, politicians, thieves, and professional criminals.” The Eagles later refurbished this unwholesome image somewhat by launching a highly visible, and ultimately successful, campaign for the proclamation of Mother’s Day.

Less than ten years after the Eagles had been founded, they became noted (notorious in medical society circles) for engaging in lodge practice. For one dollar a year, a member and immediate family could receive basic medical services (including minor surgery). This fee did not pay for treatment for obstetrics, venereal disease, and “any sickness or injury caused or brought about by the use of intoxicating liquors, opiates or by any immora

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Born in North Carolina and educated at the University of Virginia, Wake Forest University and Caledonian University in Scotland, Howell now lives in Warsaw, Poland with his wife, Dr. Magdalena Iwaniec-Woltz. Howell is the European Correspondent for The Richardson Post and Chairman of The International Centre for Justice.

    Picture

    Archives

    December 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    January 2017
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    Categories

    All
    Blog
    Justice Denied Book
    Justice Denied Film
    News
    Ombudsman

    RSS Feed

Howell's story is our story

Contact Howell for editorial inquiries or speaking opportunities
JusticeRestored.com

Photography by David Rosen   |   Book jacket design by Rob Calvert
  • Home
  • Books
  • Film
  • His TEDX talk
  • Take Action
  • Contact
    • Press Releases
  • Blog
  • Epstein Log and Black Book