Watch out next time you want to form a physician network for your hospital -- doctors in small but growing numbers, particularly in Florida and California, are becoming dues-paying union members.
The AFL-CIO now represents 33 percent of the doctors in Brevard County, in central Florida, through the Federation of Physicians and Dentists Organization. The federation's membership in Florida is 2,500 -and rising.
The move by physicians, long considered wealthy entrepreneurs and members of the conservative elite, into the union hall is indicative of the profound and rapid changes under way in the nation's health-care system.