Dentists Ready for a Dental Union

I reiterate what I commented when the survey first came out. This is a non-issue because dentists generally are not employees of insurance companies, but rather dentists and dental corporations are independent contractors in competition with each other. It is illegal for independent contractors to collude against an insurance company or for them to take concerted action that restrains free competition. A union of employed dentists and physicians has existed for decades, but it only has power to collectively bargain on behalf of its members who are employees and even then only against their employers. If two or more dentists for a so-called union and together they take some action such as boycotting an insurance company they don’t like, the dentists are vulnerable to prosecution for anti-trust violations. I recall that dental professional societies have been investigated for anti-trust activity in the past. There’s no need to go there again. When it comes to dealing with insurance, unfortunately dentists are in a “take it or leave it” situation. They can try to individually negotiate for better terms, but actions in concert among them are illegal.

OK, so now that the idea that a union is not the answer to dentists’ complaints about insurance companies, what would be helpful are surveys that probe dentists’ to find out what problems they are commonly having with insurance companies. Maybe something could be done to solve problems, other than colluding in an anti-competitive manner.