Fix Health Care Policy

Majority of Physicians Don’t See Eye to Eye with the AMA on Obamacare

Obamacare changes the health care system in several ways that harm physicians. It also fails to address the pivotal issues facing physicians today—for example, low government reimbursement rates that fail to cover the cost of care, or the need for state-by-state medical malpractice reform.

It should have come as a surprise, then, that during the health care reform debate, the American Medical Association (AMA) emerged as one of the new law’s supporters. But rather than symbolizing physicians’ support for the left’s health care overhaul, the AMA’s stance on Obamacare just proves how detached the organization has become from physicians’ best interests. A recent phone survey of physicians conducted by Jackson and Coker, a division of Jackson Healthcare, affirms the growing gap between the AMA and the physicians it is intended to represent.   (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: American Medical Association, do no harm, ObamaCare, physicians

Doctors, Medical Students Abandon AMA in Search of Alternatives

The American Medical Association lost 5 percent of its membership last year as the physician group faced fallout from its endorsement of Obamacare and refusal to retreat from the law’s most controversial provisions.

As physicians and medical school students back away from the well-known organization, they’re turning to upstarts like Docs4PatientCare and the Benjamin Rush Society, two alternatives to the AMA.

Docs4PatientCare maintains contact with about 4,000 physicians who are primarily concerned about preserving the doctor-patient relationship. Many of them became active after the AMA’s endorsement of Obamacare in 2009. That endorsement was touted by President Obama and liberals in Congress to build support for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: American Medical Association, Docs4PatientCare, doctor-patient relationship, membership loss, ObamaCare

Guest Blogger: Rep. Michael Burgess, M.D. (R-TX) on Obamacare’s Impact on Doctors

As the health care reform debate began over a year ago, the American Medical Association, the top doctors group in the country, released a list of its top priorities for health reform. The AMA is a powerful association, and many have credited it with helping to kill HillaryCare, so the organization, of which I am a member, was in a good position to impact President Obama’s health care reform plan and accomplish some of doctors’ long-awaited goals. Remember, without doctors, there is no health care, so it is important that health reform address the issues that are important to doctors and will help them keep their doors open and better serve America’s patients.

Two of the AMA’s top priorities are also two of the main reasons I decided to run for Congress almost 10 years ago – repealing the flawed Medicare physician payment formula, and nationwide medical liability reform. Unfortunately for doctors, Democrats in Washington, who have had control of Congress for over 3 years, have shown absolutely no signs of seriously addressing either of these issues. But with the AMA’s clout, I was hopeful that this time, with comprehensive health care reform a major goal for President Obama, these two big issues would finally be addressed.

(more…)

Tags: American Medical Association, doc fix, HillaryCare, IRS, medical liability reform, Medicare physician payment formula, ObamaCare, Rep. Michael Burgess

Is Obamacare a Budget Buster, Medicare Disaster, or Both?

This week National Journal Online asked their stable of health experts: Would the leading Democratic health care reform proposals result in a better or worse Medicare?

Heritage Foundation Vice President for Domestic Policy Stuart Butler responded:

“On the face of it, the reform proposals would help ease the $37 trillion unfunded obligations of Medicare, making it a tad more viable for current and future seniors. But the savings on one credit card just become new liabilities on another. Moreover, if the key cuts actually went into place it would be a disaster for seniors. In the Reid bill, physician fees are to be cut more than 20 percent in 2011 and kept there indefinitely. That would cause docs to leave in droves and mean care cutbacks from those who remain. And Medicare’s chief actuary says payment rate cuts will cause up to 20 percent of Medicare hospitals to become unprofitable. Medicare Advantage, it’s true, would not cut to the bone, but there will be a significant erosion of benefits and far fewer plans available.” (more…)

Tags: $37 trillion, AARP, American Medical Association, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicare commission

Why is the AMA Supporting a 20% Pay Cut for Their Members?

Yesterday the American Medical Association announced their support for the Senate version of Obamacare. Which is interesting since both the House and Senate versions of Obamacare cut doctor Medicare reimbursement rates by 20% starting in 2011. If Obamacare were to reinstate these cuts, the plan would add $196 billion to the deficit in the first 10 years and $765 billion in the second decade.

But President Barack Obama promised the American people yesterday: “I just want to be clear, for all those who are continually carping about how this is somehow a big-spending government bill, this cuts our deficit by $132 billion the first 10 years and by over $1 trillion in the second. The argument that opponents are making against this bill does not hold water.”

So either the AMA is misinformed about whether or not Congress and President Obama will save their Medicare reimbursement rates, or President Obama is misinformed when he tells the American people his health care plan will cut the deficit. Both the AMA and the President owe the American people an explanation.

Tags: American Medical Association, doc fix, Medicare reimbursement cuts

‘The Mother of All Public Options’

The Mayo Clinic, the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals have all come out strongly against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) Medicare buy-in plan for Americans aged 55 to 64. Every one of these core health care providers recognizes that expanding an already unsustainable program would mean disaster for the American health care system. The left in Congress sees it differently. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-CA)tells the Los Angeles Times:

Expanding Medicare is an unvarnished, complete victory for people like me. It’s the mother of all public options. We’ve taken something people know and expanded it.

And make no mistake: expanding Medicare to people between 55 and 64 is just the first step. Back in 2005, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) explicitly named such a Medicare buy-in proposal as just the first step towards Medicare for all, government run health care. Watch:

Flashback: Sen. Kennedy Promotes Medicare Expansion as Prelude to Medicare for All

Tags: American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, Federation of American Hospitals, Mayo Clinic

The Left’s Health Care Crony Capitalism

The Washington Post reports today:

The nation’s preeminent seniors group, AARP, has put the weight of its 40 million members behind health-care reform, saying many of the proposals will lower costs and increase the quality of care for older Americans.

But not advertised in this lobbying campaign have been the group’s substantial earnings from insurance royalties and the potential benefits that could come its way from many of the reform proposals.

The group and its subsidiaries collected more than $650 million in royalties and other fees last year from the sale of insurance policies, credit cards and other products that carry the AARP name, accounting for the majority of its $1.14 billion in revenue, according to federal tax records.

The AARP is not the only special interest group shelling out money to support Obamacare in hopes of future returns. Politico reported earlier this month: (more…)

Tags: AARP, American Medical Association, crony capitalism, David Axelrod, Obama Health Care Plan, PhRMA

Medicare: Largest Denier Of Health Care Claims

According to AMA’s National Health Insurance Report Card, Medicare denies 6.85 percent of its claims, higher than any private insurer (Aetna was second, denying 6.80 percent of its claims), and more than double any private insurer’s average.

What’s fascinating is that The American Medical Association (AMA) has endorsed a public option, despite the fact that “some member physicians at the group’s annual meeting [in June] likened the notion to communism.”

The Obama administration repeats ad nauseum that we need a government option to “keep insurance companies honest” and to make sure they don’t deny anyone coverage. Well what does one say about the fact that Medicare denies more claims than private insurers? (more…)

Tags: American Medical Association, health care coverage, Medicare, public option

Former AMA Presidents Offer Second Opinion

President Barack Obama pitched his health care reform plan, again, this time in front of 150 doctors in the White House Rose Garden. Despite the fact that the invitation-only guest list drew heavily from a pro-government-run health plan group, Obama still took no questions and allowed no doctors to speak. Not invited to this health care discussion were Drs. Donald Palmisano, William Plested, and Daniel Johnson, who are all former presidents of the American Medical Association. They offered a slightly different diagnosis in the Wall Street Journal today:

We aren’t among the doctors invited to a Rose Garden event today to “join the President in pushing for health insurance reform this year and [who] have offered their help and support,” as a White House press release put it. It’s unfortunate only supporters of the president’s plans will be there. Mr. Obama has missed an opportunity to learn more about the real issues facing patients and doctors and to formulate a plan that truly puts patients in control with doctors as trusted advisers. (more…)

Tags: American Medical Association, Obama Health Care Plan