Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Obamacare And The AMA

The Obama administration is touting its latest big endorsement, but is it all that and a bag of chips? No, not really:
Democrats are touting the fact that the AMA has signed on to their health care reform effort. But is the AMA really representing the views of its members, or are they playing a Washington game: currying favor with the Democrat majority, in the hopes that when negotiators decide who’ll pay for national health care, they’re not left holding the bill? Here’s one suggestion that the AMA leadership may be getting ahead of its rank and file

Seventeen state associations are considering separating themselves from the national AMA to make clear that they oppose a government-run plan. That doesn’t completely devalue the AMA’s position, but it certainly makes you wonder what could have caused such a sudden and dramatic reversal. Given the threats Democrats have been leveling against groups that refuse to cooperate with their agenda, it would be no surprise if the AMA’s leadership simply calculated that it would be more dangerous to fight than to give in.
For more information on how Obamacare will effect specifically doctors, go here.
The bottom line: doctors will be paid less, be handcuffed to provide worse care, and essentially destroy erode the private practice of medicine.

There's my two cents.


No comments: