Despicable AMA To Oppose National Health Plan

by Turkana

While Daily Kos diarist DrSteveB wants everyone to know about the terrific, 16,000 member Physicians For A National Health Program, the New York Times is reporting that the largest physicians' organization in the nation intends to be an impediment to a national health care plan:

As the health care debate heats up, the American Medical Association is letting Congress know that it will oppose creation of a government-sponsored insurance plan, which President Obama and many other Democrats see as an essential element of legislation to remake the health care system.

The opposition, which comes as Mr. Obama prepares to address the powerful doctors’ group on Monday in Chicago, could be a major hurdle for advocates of a public insurance plan. The A.M.A., with about 250,000 members, is America’s largest physician organization.

While committed to the goal of affordable health insurance for all, the association had said in a general statement of principles that health services should be “provided through private markets, as they are currently.” It is now reacting, for the first time, to specific legislative proposals being drafted by Congress.

In other words, they oppose it on principle. Due to a collective lack of principles! And given the great success of the private system, in denying access to medical care to millions of Americans, it is now clear that the AMA no longer is interested in one of the basic tenets of the Hippocratic Oath:

...never do harm to anyone.

For the AMA seems to think profit comes first.

From the Times:

But in comments submitted to the Senate Finance Committee, the American Medical Association said: “The A.M.A. does not believe that creating a public health insurance option for non-disabled individuals under age 65 is the best way to expand health insurance coverage and lower costs. The introduction of a new public plan threatens to restrict patient choice by driving out private insurers, which currently provide coverage for nearly 70 percent of Americans.”

Which they seem to think is a good thing. And never mind that no private insurers actually will be driven out of business if they actually do a good job of providing adequate coverage at reasonable prices. Apparently, the AMA cares no more about the truth than about the medical needs of those millions of Americans now denied coverage. Despicable.