Organization Spreads Pro-Freedom Ideas in Medical Schools
By Leo Pusateri
In a time when 51 percent of millennials say they have a positive view of socialism, there is an organization spreading the word of free markets and capitalism in one of the sectors most vulnerable to government command and control: health care.
The Benjamin Rush Institute (BRI) “unites medical students, faculty, doctors, health care professionals and others from across the political spectrum, who believe that free enterprise and a direct patient-doctor relationship are the best means of ensuring optimal patient outcomes at affordable prices,” the organization’s website states.
BRI founder Sally Pipes says she started the group out of a concern medical student were receiving only one perspective on their chosen profession.
“It had become so clear to me, following several medical school debates, that the majority of professors were biased in their teaching of students—focusing solely on the need for a single-payer or ‘Medicare for All’ system,” said Pipes. “There was no discussion about the alternatives to such a system and why a complete government takeover of our health care system would be a disaster for doctors and patients alike.”
Hatching the Idea
Pipes says she was inspired by the work and success of the Federalist Society.
“I thought the society’s model for law students and lawyers was one that could be reproduced for medical students,” said Pipes.
Pipes and others met with Federalist Society leaders in 2008 to discuss the possibilities, and the new organization was born.
“The Benjamin Rush Institute was named after Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a medical doctor, politician, and humanitarian,” said Pipes. “His views were very reflective of the objectives of our new organization.
“It was very important to me that students have the opportunity to establish chapters at their medical schools so they could set up and attend debates that focus on competing but balanced views on health care,” Pipes said . . .
