Never let it be said that Margaret Thatcher lacks courage. After confidently taking on the miners, the press and the teachers, the Prime Minister has announced plans to reform two of the country's most prestigious professions, medicine and law. Her proposals, the most sweeping in decades, prove that Thatcher has lost none of her zeal for leading Britain toward a more open, free-market economy.
The most controversial changes involve the National Health Service, the state-financed system that employs about 1 million workers and treats 30 million patients a year. Thatcher's plan, which must still be approved by Parliament, allows the best-managed...