All economic players are in theory subject to antitrust law. Anticompetitive behavior is in theory illegal. Union supporters negotiated an exception back in the day. So did the AMA, in part because it pretends to be a professional society. But in fact, the AMA has engaged in profoundly anticompetitive behavior from the start. For example, it regulates the physician supply by influencing policies of medical schools.<p>It was modern pharmaceuticals that professionalized doctors and hospitals. Previously, symptomatic mitigation and surgery were about the only options. Doctors were not high-status professionals, barely above blacksmiths. National healthcare was the sane response to this clusterfuck. But not in the US, because that would be socialism. So it goes.