“With all due respect, Bird, doctors don’t work in an “industry””
It is most certainly an industry. It consumes 1/7th (and growing) of all our economic efforts. Doctors are an intimate part of it, and they are often passionate and professional about it.
There is no shame or insult in calling it an industry. Many doctors are well compensated for their efforts and education, as it should be (for some of them).
I understand your view, but I think it’s wrong. While the delivery of healthcare services does comprise some 14-15% of our economy, I contend the practice of medicine is not and must not be construed as an industry. That is one reason we’ve got to the point we have with Obamacare. Health care services are not like other industrial services in that they are - ideally - personalized and compassionate.
Medicine, despite what the tinkerers think, is as much art, maybe more, than it is pure science. There is no cookbook, although some would like it that way. It’s just that for most patients, outcomes are unpredictable.