Free Markets, Private Equity, and the Moral Case for Medicine

Episode SummaryJared Rhoads, founder of the Center for Modern Health and senior lecturer in health policy at the Dartmouth Institute, joins Drs. Koka and DiGiorgio for a wide-ranging conversation on the philosophical foundations of healthcare policy. Rhoads — an Objectivist in the tradition of Ayn Rand — argues that physicians have a right to pursue health, not a right to be given it, and walks through what that distinction means for real policy debates: FDA drug approval, prior authorization, the ban on physician-owned hospitals, private equity in medicine, and foreign-trained physician licensure. The episode is a rare attempt to make the moral case for free markets in medicine, not just the efficiency case.Chapter Markers00:00 Introduction and guest background01:52 What is the Center for Modern Health?04:25 Objectivism, Ayn Rand, and rational self-interest11:19 Healthcare as a private good vs. community good13:58 Policy mistakes made for edge cases16:58 You have a right to pursue health — not to be given it20:14 Does Medicare violate rights?22:47 Positive vs. negative rights in healthcare24:47 The FDA, drug approval, and the Prasad/McCary departures31:08 A two-tier FDA review proposal: private vs. public payers42:25 Breaking up Big Medicine — the Hawley-Warren bill49:43 Prior authorization: structural problem or reform target?55:22 High-deductible plans and why price consciousness hasn't taken hold57:43 Price transparency laws: do they actually work?01:02:49 Section 6001 and the de facto ban on physician-owned hospitals01:06:04 Stark Law, Medicare Advantage, and a possible reform path01:11:19 Private equity in medicine: where are the actual rights violations?01:19:02 Free markets and monopolies: the standard objection answered01:21:12 Foreign-trained physician licensure01:34:11 Immigration, physician workforce, and the battle of ideas01:37:40 Center for Modern Health summer fellowshipCo-Host Handles@anish_koka and @drdigiorgioShow Handle@drsloungepodSubscribe LinksSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/44vw8eirsKKnjgNIrdDvrRApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-doctors-lounge/id1832097658YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDoctorsLoungePod