Doctors were once overwhelmingly male and conservative. But today the politics of the medical profession are changing, as more doctors abandon independent practice for salaried jobs and more women are graduating from medical school, reports Gardiner Harris in the latest installment of his Doctors, Inc. series.

No national surveys track doctors’ political leanings over time, but as more doctors move from shopkeeper to shift-worker, their historic alliance with the Republican Party is weakening from Maine to South Dakota and from Arizona to Oregon, according to doctors’ advocates in those and other states.

This could have a profound effect on the nation’s health care debate. Indeed, the American Medical Association supported last year’s health legislation after opposing almost every major reform proposal for nearly a century because the law would provide health insurance to the vast majority of the nation’s uninsured, improve competition and choice in insurance, and promote prevention and wellness, the group said.

Many of the business issues like insurance reimbursement that were once top priorities for doctors’ groups have, because so many doctors are no longer in business, been displaced by public health and safety concerns like mandatory seat-belt use and environmental issues like chemicals in baby products.

Even the issue of liability, while still important to the A.M.A. and many state affiliates, is losing some of its unifying power because when doctors join hospital staffs, malpractice insurance is generally provided.

To learn more, read the full report, “As Physicians’ Jobs Change, So Do Their Politics,” and then please join the discussion below.