AMA Refuses To Support Public Health Care Option

CHICAGO — The American Medical Association has declined to take a firm position on President Barack Obama's proposal to create a public health insurance program.

The AMA delegates meeting in Chicago agreed Wednesday to support health care reform alternatives that are "consistent with AMA principles," which include freedom to choose health insurance and universal access for patients. But they didn't specifically support a plan for public health insurance.

Several AMA members say that by not using the words "public option" the AMA is sending a message that they are obstructing Obama's efforts to reform health care.

But the AMA's immediate past president, Dr. Nancy Nielsen, says the group didn't close the door to a public option. She says delegates simply didn't want to be seen as supporting something that hasn't been defined yet.

Comments

[bedrocklib]

This is exactly why most real doctors do not belong to the AMA.
They do not speak for the majority of M.D.'s.

[Eagleman]

I recommend the following:

- We should rename the country to Union of Socialistic America
- Get rid of white stripes on our flad. Red will do
- Replace the stars with Hammer/Sickle
- Give authority to Obama to be president for life until his daughter comes to a legal age to be a president.
- Nationalize all banks, car companies, drug makes, phone companies and hospitals
- Issue ration cards to people for buying gas, toilet tissues and food
- Expand the quotas for latinos, blacks, asian the affirmative action programs
- Remove the border post with mexico and abolish immigration division. If you enter united states you will be automatically sworn in as US citizen
- Mandate that all doctors work for free and they will be given a fixed allowance by the government
- It is illegal to do pledge of the legions

[StillweRise]

why must you go to illogical extremes...

oh.. i know... to make a strawman point..... and scare weak minded, low information voters

should you stop driving on roads...
should you stop sending kids to public "socialized" schools
should you not have police protection
should you not have fire protection
should you never go into a public library
should you not have protection from the U.S. Armed forces if invaded
should you not have medicaid available when you are elderly
should you not have use of the U.S. mail system

come on.... at least TRY to be intellectually honest for once in your life.

[Realization]

The Doctors' Union should be forced to publish the annual income of its members and health insurance firms should be forced t publish the salaries and benefits of their executives and employees. Same for Big Pharma. All on one web site that is easy to use.

I want choice and that means single payer. No other way to take the burden of excessive health costs off the real American economy. Lousy coverage, excessive private bureaucracy, and about double the cost in other developed countries is pulling down the real U.S. economy. This isn't just about health care. It's international competitiveness.

The stated goal for any reform plan should be "To provide universal care with better results than those in other developed nations at a percentage of GDP no greater than that in other developed nations."

[atlantajoe]

The doctors Union ? you want choice so that means no choice. Why are you so envious of doctors money, if you want to complain, go to med school yourself.

[StillweRise]

i thought you guys were AGAINST unions...

(except when they are RICH ones i guess)

nobody has a problem with doctors making money. must they do it at the expense of those they are supposed to heal?

psst.. the answer is no.

and... if they aren't making enough money... they can CHOOSE to go into plastic surgery.

[PINO]

Dear PINO obama

You said it your self a few weeks ago, "We are out of money". So why then would you strap this country with an additional $1.5 Trillion dollars of yearly debt. Why would you say that I can keep my health care that I currently have when in reality you will tax my employer forcing me into you single-payer health care system. Or why would you tax my health care benefits to help pay for your grossly bloated health care debt. Either way, you plan is nothing but smoke and mirrors. I am not saying our current system is perfect, but what you and your administration is proposing will ruin the best health care system on this planet.

WE are not a cradle to grave society, but many people feel that it should be. There are those who don't want to work so why should my hard earned tax dollars pay for someone who is lazy? Care to answer? You won this election because you convinced 68 million people that you can speak eloquently from the podium, but boy the minute you are away from your tele-prompters you're not so extraordinary. You may have turned some states in the last election, but come 2010, you and your administration will end up being a lame duck.

NOW is the time to fix the financial mess that you and the democrats put us in, instead of adding more debt to the backs of our children.

Regards

[StillweRise]

Hmmm? Was Obama president last october?

[PaxEterna]

SINGLE PAYER NOW.

SIGN BERNIE SANDERS' PETITION.

MARCH IN DC JUNE 25th, or stay home from work on a "sick" day.

SYMBO: SEND YOUR MEDICAL BILLS TO OBAMA

"JUST SAY NO" to the high cost of premiums, co-pays, drugs etc.

It's time America to take to the streets and demand comprehensive action.

No bill that continues to reward insurance companies, Big Pharma, lobbyists (that includes AARP and AMA), and the congressional representatives (hah) on both sides of the aisle who take money from these self-interested groups, should be invited to the table.

Take the PROFIT out of PATIENT CARE and America will be on the path to recovery.

Did Clinton have to worry about getting her elbow attended to?

Why not?

Because we pay her health care tab.

It's time for the American people to get what they give.

[atlantajoe]

Whay about the millions that take instead of giving, should they syop taking ?

[StillweRise]

should you stop driving on roads...
should you stop sending kids to public "socialized" schools
should you not have police protection
should you not have fire protection
should you never go into a public library
should you not have protection from the U.S. Armed forces if invaded
should the elderly not have medicaid

what about the millions taking here?

[Whinger]

They have had it their way far to long, change is coming, no matter how long it takes!

[Mr C]

The democrats have been running the show in congress for many many more years than the republicans so why aren't we in paradise already. Maybe because your ideas sound good but in the end make things worse???

[StillweRise]

Dear Mr. President,

The country NEEDS this. Please do not allow the GOP and the AMA to obstruct national healthcare this time. The bi-partisanship you seek will not be there on the initial nor the final vote. Those who seek to obstruct will do so at all costs. Their interests do not lie with the American public, but rather with themselves and each other. Meanwhile, the crisis continues to grow.

We believe in you and the power of change. We see that you are up against a withering non-stop campaign of falsehoods and misinformation to discredit every move that you make, and every word uttered from your mouth. For the enemy knows that your success means the country's success. And the country's success means a very long time in the wilderness for them.

Please President Obama, remember that your historic election win came because you made 68 million American citizens believe in the 'Audacity of Hope' and the power of change. You flipped NINE states from red to blue. You won in an electoral college landslide. YOU "HAVE" A MANDATE.

You have the capital and power to validate our belief in hope and change by having the audacity to do what is necessary politically to get healthcare DONE.

There's no turning back now, Sir. As I said earlier, the country NEEDS this. The country needs YOU.

NOW is the time to make this happen and have America actually be responsible to her citizens.

Thank you

--Stillwerise.

[Mr C]

There's no mandate. It'll be the countries demise. Worst thing that could happen to the US. And I love how the epitome of lies and deceit accuses the other side of it..

[StillweRise]

the epitome of lies and deceit is the republican party.

just so we are clear.

and yes... there is ABSOLUTELY a mandate. more-so than bush's phony one.

[CAHertzfe]

S_C_R_E_W the AMA! These are not doctors. The patient, medicine and health are not their first concern. Their first concern is themselves and bleeding America dry. The AMA is no worse the oil companies IMHO.

[Tex1969]

Not an AARP link.

Petition for Single Payer option from Sen. Bernie Sanders

http://sanders.senate.gov/petitions/index.cfm?uid=7fd59f2e-88e1-477a-8eaf-762a5b050809

[ChrisJones]

Debunking Canadian Health Care Myths.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/07-0

[Lilith33]

All one needs to know is how many canadians move here for our heathcare.­.........n­ot many.

[CJWebber]

None.

[atlantajoe]

They don't move here, they come visit and pay out of pocket.

[nogimmicks]

There is nothing more disgusting than the doctors who just optimize their behavior to make maximal profit.
Just look at this numbers and tell me why a lazy AVERAGE anesthesiologist giving drugs to a patient deserves 370K/y to 600K/y salary???

http://www.allied-physicians.com/salary_surveys/physician-salaries.htm

[opticsopen]

What percentage of the AMA are republicans? The majority I would guess.

[Mr C]

You must be a bunch ofdemocrats!

[Marcospinelli]

Obama was forced to scrape, claw, cajole and threaten in order to scrounge up enough House Democratic votes yesterday to pass its $100 billion war funding and foreign-bank bailout bill. The administration succeeded only by convincing 19 House Democrats who had voted against the war spending bill just last month to switch their votes, and they even had to resort to having Obama himself call House members to whip up enough votes for passage.

The Washington Post's Perry Bacon reports what motivated at least some of the vote-switching in the House -- it was not support for the bill, but rather, political "loyalty" to the President.

The primary criticism of the GOP-led Congress from 2002-2006 was that it abdicated its institutional responsibility to act as an independent branch and instead became a subservient arm of the executive branch due to political allegiance to the Republican President. Pat Leahy famously mocked Congressional Republicans for taking orders from Dick Cheney on how to vote at a weekly lunch they had with him. But at least Congressional Republicans had the decency to pretend that they were exercising their own independent judgment -- not subordinating their judgment to the President's will out of "loyalty."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/17/congress/index.html

[Lilith33]

Yeah and we know where theyre loyalty lays.......we should have or reps dress like nascar drivers at least then we would know who their sponser are.

[Mr C]

You're so loving.

[LeftLeanWing]

Don't Care !

As long as the GOPers are not in power to f'k things up anymore than they have already.

And the difference is that Bush didn't have to scrape, claw, cajole and threaten his (R)s or even scrounge up votes........ He didn't know what to do when time came for the Harriet Myers appt. and the Immigration Bill, because everything had been so easy.

[beartrack]

AMA Principals . What the hell is that ? Medicine for profit, high cost low care. What ? Give me some "principals" for the people.

[Lilith33]

Money first.....­.......tha­ts the principle.

[dumboldfarmer]

The AMA does not represent all physicians. It represents the AMA, drug companies and insurance providers. It does not have the best interest of patients at heart as evidenced by their stance in this problem.

[LemonMeringue]

Truth. They don't promote or endorse any treatments or cures that don't make Big Pharma a bunch of money.

In Europe they prescribe things like good nutrition, herbs, homeopathy, and home remedies.

You won't get anything but a prescription from an AMA, or any doctor who follows the AMA recommendations. The more expensive, the better.

[JM817]

True. We just saw a doctor because my husband feel fairly tired lately. The doctor (British NHS) prescribed B vitamins, Zinc, and Vitamin C. When I had a problem with my ear not too long (it had too much wax in it), the advice was a few drops of olive oil several times a day.

[Lilith33]

I think alot of doctors cashed in,they invested in the HMOS and big pharmas.Med schools because they were expensive attracted the same types that finance attracted.It wasnt the best and brightest it was the greed.They wanted the big paychech.There are alot of PHDs out there stuggling to get 40k a year.When was the lasttime you heard of a doctor making a housecall?Just sayin alot of them ae talking out of both sides of their mouths.