Saturday, October 10, 2015

Let Rocky Vista University Open, and Fill it with Students

   Word is, there's an effort to open a new medical school in Utah, down near St. George. Why should this be big news? Well, the government limits how many schools there are in each state. It puts a cap on them. And, there is only one in Utah, it being at the University of Utah.
   More to the point, one of the real reasons medical bills are so high in America, is that we restrict competition. We do this in many ways. We license extensively, thus limiting who can practice. We limit the insurance choices at the workplace. We require doctors to be part of our network before we can see them. We have patent rights that limit who can produce drugs and medical devices.
   Some of those things might have value. I'm not sure we want to run them all off the board. But, putting a cap on how many medical schools there are? I guess I wonder why.
   So, when I spotted a Facebook post by Sen. Steve Urquhart about the new medical school, I lifted my eyebrows. Sen. Urquhart has issues with the proposed school. He calls the firm bringing in the school predatory and suggests that St. George and Cedar City are fortunate that the new school, Rocky Vista University, is locating in Ivins, instead of in their cities.
   Urquhart's Facebook friends jump on the bandwagon, castigating Rocky Vista. I am not yet persuaded the school is a bad thing, though. I wonder at all the opposition to it. I wonder why and perhaps if I lived down there and was a little more tuned in to the issue, I'd understand.
   To me, it seems not harmful, at all. Having a medical school, it seems, should be a good thing. I only wish there wasn't a limit on them and wonder why when a second one does comes along, we fight it. I wish there were, say, a half dozen medical schools, producing enough doctors and medical personnel to help drop the price of medicine. I believe in supply and demand, and I believe if more people were doctors, and we didn't find ways to keep them from practicing, it could drop our medical bills at least a little.
   So, please, open Rocky Vista University. And, fill it with as many students as can be found.


 

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