About That AMA Endorsement

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About That AMA Endorsement

Written By : McQ

Yesterday President Obama took time out of what one would presume was a busy day to tout the fact that the AMA and the AARP had endorsed the latest House version of health care reform.

But it appears that some of the rank and file are none too happy with the endorsement. In fact many are quite upset that the endorsement was made prior to their meeting in Houston this weekend. There are moves afoot to introduce resolutions at the meeting to rescind the endorsement.

Former AMA president Stormy Johnson is preparing a resolution to rescind the endorsement, sources said. And the surgeons are introducing a resolution that would call on the AMA to actively oppose any legislation that includes a public option or a temporary doc fix or that doesn’t include medical malpractice reform.

A number of state associations are also upset with the AMA’s endorsement.

And, of course, not mentioned by President Obama were two doctor’s associations who came out opposing the legislation:

In fact, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons announced their opposition to the House bill today.

“Sadly, in the ongoing health care reform debate, the more things change, the more they stay the same. We could not support H.R. 3200, the ‘America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,’ which was introduced in the House last July and unfortunately, we must now oppose this new House bill too. It contains no significant changes or improvements when it comes to the issues we believe are vital for true health care reform in this country,” said AANS president Troy Tippett.

It will be interesting to see what comes out of the AMA’s meeting, but it appears, given the turmoil this endorsement has stirred, that the significance of the AMA’s endorsement should be taken with a grain of salt.

[HT: Abigail R.]

[Crossposted at QandO]

http://conservativebootcamp.com martinhale

The AMA’s endorsement means less than nothing since a majority of doctors have dropped out of the AMA – it’s now pretty much just a name without a real organisation behind it. Last I’d heard, they now only represent about 15% of the doctors licensed in this country. To the extent that they don’t actually represent a majority of doctors, their backing and support looks like a very hollow gesture.

Now the AARP story is a bit different. Theirs is a story of unmitigated greed and self-interest. To understand their story you first have to understand the history of Medicare and Medicare add-on insurance plans.

After Medicare had been instituted, some enterprising insurers came up with a companion product which filled in some of the gaps in coverage that were a problem in Medicare. These were called Medigap policies and they did well in the marketplace for a few years. That is until Medicare itself signed on to the idear of Medicare Advantage plans. These plans revolve around insurers getting a capitation fee from Medicare for each enrollee and then adding benefits and coverages above and beyond those offered by Medicare and selling that package to seniors. These Medicare Advantage plans quickly became more popular with seniors because they added not just coverages, but they added services and benefits as well. Enter the health care insurance ‘reformers’. Mr. Obama and company have deemed Medicare Advantage ‘wasteful’ and ‘costly’. So, accordingly, the house bill specifically spikes Medicare Advantage plans but leaves Medigap plans in place. That leaves seniors who want and can afford more coverage to purchase Medigap insurance. Well, guess who the largest seller of Medigap insurance is? Good for you, you got it in one. That’s right AARP is the largest seller of Medigap policies in the country and they just signed on to support a bill which kills their biggest competitor – Medicare Advantage.

Still think their endorsement means anything other than greed and self-interest?
William Teach

AARP has been pushing their Medicare Advantage plan hard recently, with long, long commercials. My parents keep getting mail about it. Seems that they have a big financial interest in this monstrosity of a plan.

Doctors are also dropping out of Medicare and Medicaid left and right.
Jack Schite

Medicare advantage happened when the republicons created the hole for the insurance industry to fill and (most importantly) profit from at the time Medicare was reformed during the Bush administration.
http://PatriotPost.US bthewolf

Posted by Jack Schite
2009-11-07 10:33:43

You are completely ignorant on thisd topic, so do us all a favor and STFU.
http://networdblog.blogspot.com/ Christopher_Taylor

Typically these big organizations veer left pretty rapidly. Unless they start out purposefully conservative, all organizations eventually end up leftist, sadly. It’s the nature of activism and who’s most likely to have the drive and interest (and time) for that kind of thing, eventually they end up in charge and take over the agenda, while member just start leaving.