This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Monday, February 11th, 2008. I'm Caleb Brown.

So-called convenience clinics allow consumers to get basic medical care at low prices.

So why aren't they more widely available?

Michael Cannon, the Cato Institute's Director of Health Policy Studies, says regulation stands between low-cost medical care and low-income

consumers.

Minnet Clinics, the idea of very basic health care being provided in a clinic in a smaller storefront

where you don't necessarily see a physician, why aren't those more widespread?

Well it has to do with how states regulate medical professionals, that's doctors and

other what they call non-physician clinicians. Every state requires a medical clinician to obtain a license to practice within that state's borders.

And these laws are justified on the grounds that we don't want quacks going out there and practicing medicine and injuring people and there's a certain rationale there.

What happens though after these laws are enacted is that the state also has to define a scope of practice for every type of medical professional, every type of license that they issue.

So for doctors, physicians, the scope of practices is plenary.

There's nothing that they really, there's nothing in the area of medicine that they're

prohibited from doing by licensing laws.

Non-physician clinicians have limited scopes of practice,

nurse practitioners, physician assistance,

registered nurses.

They all have a legislatively defined scope of practice that says

you can perform these tasks, you cannot perform those other tasks. On the surface

this has a certain appeal to it, a certain rationale because you want people

only to perform those tasks at which they're qualified and competent to perform. However, because these decisions are being made by the state governments,

they're all subject to political pressure from each of these special interest groups from the physician

...