AMA Reverses Position, Says Open To Government-Funded Insurance

CNN:

(CNN) -- The new president of the American Medical Association, which represents the interests of the nation's doctors, said Wednesday the group is open to a government-funded health insurance option for people without coverage.

Dr. J. James Rohack told CNN that the AMA supports an "American model" that includes both "a private system and a public system, working together."

Read the whole story: CNN

Comments

[WoodyCPM]

I smell a rat. I don't believe when they say "public option" they mean the same thing as when the people say "public option." There's some backroom dealings going on here and I suspect it's to end up with the same kind of taxpayer gouging as has been accomplished through the Drug Assistance Act. where the government is forbidden to go into the market and negotiate cheaper prices while at the same time handing off billions to Big Pharmaceutical companies. I tell ya, I smell a rat.

[Weirdwriter]

The Drug Assistance Act was invented under Bush. 'Nuff said.

Obama has a very solid motivation to pass this public option. One of his last memories of his mother was her in a hospital bed, dying of cancer and arguing over the phone with her insurer because it wanted to say she had a preexisting condition and they didn't have to cover her.

He's said over and over he doesn't want that to happen to anyone else.

[WoodyCPM]

I'm not talking about what Obama wants. I'm talking about what Congress is likely to deliver. Obama does not make the laws.

[iceage7]

What about the negative ADS. Stop the ads if your for real.

[epiphany1234]

Well, the AMA could stand in the way of progress and the people's WILL but for so long.

They know where the future lies and what side of the bread their butter is on.

Time for the regressive Democrats to get on board.....­that would be Dianne Feinstein, Ben Nelson,
Max Baucus to name a few.

[johnqsittinzen]

Not to mention Rahm Emmanuel et al are backing these guys into corners and letting 'em know whose running the effin sho ova heah!

[rhondadavis28]

yes we can

ALL

get health care coverage for all

should not be a privalge

should be a right


thanks, mr pres

for working ACROSS party lines

and bringing dr's and insurance co. to the table

and holding town hall for us too!!!!!!!!!

[careforall]

How about a cap on lawyers' fee? Will that help cutting cost and put more dollars into the patients' care?
Why is the President so oppose to it?

[cobobs]

The people can get even that, if they apply pressure.

[ramal]

Lies! The AMA is using every behind the scenes tool at their disposal to defeat universal healthcare for all Americans. Shameful!

[bunnyv]

Agreed. The one constant within the Univ. HC in other countries is that Dr.s don't make the inflated paychecks that Dr.s in the US make. You can be d*mn sure they will not go into Univ. HC without a SERIOUS fight.

[bunnyv]

........an­d that seems to be a fight they have won.

[worldview47]

don't give up..".its not over till the fat lady sings"

[Roguewolf]

Barack Obama’s sudden about-face on taxing employer-provided health insurance, He called McCain's idea radical during the campaign. Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign spent $44 million on 16 different television ads hammering John McCain on this idea.

And I can make a firm pledge: under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase — not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital-gains taxes, not any of your taxes.

Back in March, White House budget director Peter Orszag said taxing employer benefits was among several ideas that “most firmly should remain on the table,” and some congressional Democrats told the Washington Post that White House officials said Obama would accept such a tax “as long as he didn’t have to propose it himself.”


“I don’t want to prejudge what they’re doing,” he said about Senate proposals to tax workers who get expensive insurance policies. “I have identified the ways that I think we should finance this. I think Congress should adopt them. I’m going to wait and see what ideas ultimately they come up with.”

Poof! What was once “so radical, so out of touch with what you’re facing, and so out of line with our basic values” now is not worthy of prejudgment

[Roguewolf]

Big Brother Barry is a big fat liar.

[epiphany1234]

Maybe the tax on employer's health care has at its core the idea to make privately sponsored health care less competitive against the public plan.

[Roguewolf]

Obama is a liar.

[REGONE]

I took a look at my check and guess what? I'm paying for medicaid/medicare insurance which is a government sponsored health plan for the poor, plus I'm paying for my own health insurance which is like double taxation. Just open up medicaid/medicare for all the under/uninsured and pay for it with a national sales tax on all purchased goods in the country. Therefore all Americans are contributing to the cause. This is simple, but the big money private insurers are blocking real reform so they can keep raking in those billions of dollars corrupting the health care system.

[ErnestineBass]

That's how the Canadians pay for their system, and I've yet to hear a single Canuck complain about the quality of, or accessibility to, their health care.

Face facts, compared to the Canadians we're paying three times the price for nothing.

[careforall]

we are paying for a chance to hit that malpractice jackpot...

[worldview47]

...absolut­ely...if I was there with my medical history, I'd be bankrupt..­.by the way I receive excellent care. In addition, my brother in law was diagnosed with MS and didn't want to wait for the MRI to further confirm, so he pd. out of pocket to a private...­HIS CHOICE....

KEEP AT THEM...Its "WE THE PEOPLE", not "WE THE CONGRESS" and their sidekicks

[anothervoice2]

No, not buying it. Either this is only pr, and they are still working behind the scenes to nix it. Or they will ensure that not enough of their members participate in the public health option - effectively killing it as a viable alternative. Or there is a quid pro quo arrangement where they will support this in exchange for tort reform.

[alumtrix]

The one sentence that stood out for me was where he stated he didn't want to expand Medicare/medicaid because the doctors were not being paid in full. Does he not realize the money will still be coming from the government who will dictate how much they will pay for certain services?

We need to push for individual medical accounts that will pay for insurance in the private sector for catastrohic cases and pay cash for stitches and flu shots. The balance that we each save will go towards our social security account and that provides the incentive to not only shop wisely but to go to the doctor sparingly.

Socailized medicine will also label illegal immigrants when they go to the doctor because they will not have proper documentation for government subsidized healthcare. BINGO!!

[Ramus]

We don't need insurance run by for-profit companies. We don't need health insurance we need health care for every person here. Do you think it would be a great idea not to treat illegals who might have, say, drug resistant TB, or a new virus. Great idea..no care for illegals, just let them cough and sneeze away in the subways and streets and gardens of America with no health services. Very smart thinking.

[lysistrata]

Why don't you have a MSA? You could have your MSA and pay for all medical expenses and have a catastrophic insurance also. It is a free market, you can by the insurance you want. The higher your deductible the cheaper your premiums.

[Peabodies]

How is that different from what we have now? We don't need more complicated maneuvers like MSAs. We need SIMPLIFICATION of what we have today. Medicare for All (ages) -- uh Single Payer!

[DimBulb2]

holy single payer insurance batman!

[banja]

The AMA just sent out petitions to member physicians for signatures opposing the public option. Trust but verify. Don't be fooled, they are opposed to the pubilc option.

[anothervoice2]

If anyone has got that petition, they should send it to HP to post. Exposing them is the only way this fight will be won.

[000Jade000]

I don't trust this at all. In fact, it worries me. My gut instinct is that if the AMA President is making statements in support of a public option, it's because the public option is expected to be a fake public option that strongly subsidizes the private industry even more. Something like mandated health coverage for all that will push EVERYONE into having private insurance and will help those who can't absolutely can't afford coverage pay for it.

[personalpolitical]

Tomorrow: "The AMA hasn't changed its position regarding the public plan."

[Peabodies]

Very happy to see that activism works, starting with Amy Goodman's expose of the AMA on Democracy Now!

Followed by many other testimonies and truth-telling about the American Medical Association (AMA), and its (mis)deeds, for which by now it only represents 25% of U.S. physicians/doctors.

[careforall]

Activism don't work.

http://abajournal.com/news/trial_lawyers_shift_from_edwards_to_obama/

That is why ...there will be no tort reform as part of the new plan.

Nothing change in Washington. Lobbyist rules!

[peterg76]

Why do I get a feeling that "government-funded" was the operative factor?

[SorenB]

People please read carefully.­... the AMA supports the public option for those WITHOUT COVERAGE. This way somebody pays the bills for all those free ER visits for those without insurance.

They are not supporting everybody having the public option. Those that have insurance can keep paying their insurance premiums PLUS the doctor over charges that insurance does not cover.

Are Americans that slow to think that this is any different that what it is now? This doesn't change anything other than those paying taxes to fund those that don't with free health care while they STILL pay for their own insurance.

[ErnestineBass]

THANK YOU...!!!

Another poster who doesn't buy the AMA's BS.

[jbrantow]

you claim"PLUS the doctor over charges that insurance does not cover."...­.please give proof of this. The doctors may charge for what the ins doesn't cover but they dont "over" charge unless they want to risk losing their license. Give proof if you make such an accustion. Plus remember the ER doesn't treat non emeregcies or non life threatening illnesses like folks with disabilities or chronic illnesses. Everyone deserves to have health care. It's also not free. Folks will pay for their ins. They just won't be raped like the private ins corps do to them now.

[SorenB]

The additional charge is just a hospitals way of making up for the raw deal they negotiated with the insurance company. I come from a medical family, believe me when I say this.

There is no way for the average patient to assess whether what the doctor is charging above and beyond what insurance will pay for the procedure is fair or not. Patients rely on their insurance companies to evaluate that.

Only tax payers will be paying for the FREE health care for the public option. Those that cannot afford will still have coverage paid for by those that can afford it... The tax payers get raped twice...on­ce by the insurance providers and twice by the government to pay for those without insurance.

[robbep]

I was beginning to think I was the only one who picked up on the support for those without coverage. They want to give the uninsured a plan like your congressman and the rest of you can keep what you have. Ben Nelson slipped when he honestly said that the private insurance cant compete with a govt run plan. This debate is not about the most efficient way of delivering care to us citizens, our congress already knows that a single payor system is cheaper and covers more people than what we have right now, this is about private insurance paying off our senate to stay alive. The only people who want to keep our private health system are the people who make money from it, the people who take money from it, and the yokels who just cant help supporting something they dont benefit from. The latter group you have to pray for bcz they just dont know any better it is in their dna to follow authority and work against their own self interest. Joe the Plumber is an example of this, he lied about who he was and what he made to challenge a tax plan that he actually benefitted from. People like this dont care about facts or proof or truth they have their own opinions and that is that.God bless em.