Myth: The Campbell bill (H.R. 1304) would merely give doctors the same right to unionize that other employees already have.

Fact: The Campbell bill has nothing to do with doctors forming unions; instead, it would permit doctors to form cartels.

Doctors who are employees of hospitals, health plans, and government entities currently have the same right to organize unions as do any other groups of employees, and many have. Such doctors are required to form collective bargaining units under terms spelled out in the National Labor Relations Act and enforced by the National Labor Relations Board.

The Campbell bill would allow doctors who own their own practices and who are employers - not employees - to join together with their competitors to fix prices, restrain trade and organize boycotts against health plans that will disadvantage patients enrolled in those health plans. Like labor unions, these cartels would be exempt from federal antitrust laws. But unlike labor unions, the National Labor Relations Board would not oversee their activities. Under H.R. 1304, there would be no controlling legal authority over doctor cartels.

Unlike labor unions, doctor cartels would be free to threaten or coerce other health care professionals to join their cartel. They force an insurer to discriminate against health care professionals who remain outside the cartel. They would not be required to negotiate in good faith with health plans, as unions are required to do. Nor would they be subject to "cooling off" periods or to binding arbitration to resolve their differences with health plans.

In short, H.R. 1304 is not about forming labor unions - it's about forming cartels that will drive up the cost of medical care and result in consumers spending more out of their own pockets for health care services, having their benefits curtailed, and - in too many cases - losing their coverage entirely.