AMA President Rohack Responds to Recent Health Reform Watch Blog on Public Plan
Filed under: AMA, Proposed Legislation, Public Plan
On July 4th, we wrote about what seemed an abrupt change in AMA policy regarding the Public Plan as voiced by AMA President, Dr. J. James Rohack in an interview with CNN –and about the organization’s declining membership: “AMA About Face on Public Plan?” President Rohack responded to this blog. In the interest of fairness, and because people sometimes do not read comments from older posts, below is AMA President Rohack’s comment, complete and without edit or comment:
J. James Rohack, M.D., AMA President says:
AMA policy is formed by the AMA’s voting House of Delegates – the nation’s only democratic assembly of physicians and medical students representing all state and specialty medical societies. I shared with CNN the AMA’s new policy – which was created and voted on by our physician delegates at our annual meeting in June - that the AMA supports health system reform alternatives consistent with AMA principles of pluralism, freedom of choice, freedom of practice, and universal access for patients.
This evolution in policy is consistent with the AMA’s strong support for health reform this year that provides high-quality health care coverage for all Americans. Our commitment is clear. Over the last few years we’ve spent $15 million dollars to call attention to the uninsured crisis and lay the groundwork for health reform that gets all Americans covered through our Voice for the Uninsured campaign.
We don’t yet know what form a final bill will take, which is why we will carefully study all options that make the system better for America’s patients and allow physicians to provide high-quality care. The AMA will stay actively engaged to get reform this year that improves the system for patients and physicians.
Dr. Rohack misspoke in his very first sentence describing the AMA as the ‘nation’s only democratic assembly of physicians and medical students representing all state and specialty medical societies’. The National Physicians Alliance is a multi-specialty organization that has members all across America. So is Doctors for America. Let’s not forget the American Medical Students Association, which was born out of a frustration with AMA’s history as a strong opponent to health care reform. Then there’s also the Committee of Interns and Residents, as well as the National Doctors Alliance.
All these organizations are democratic, multi-specialty, and span the country. All of these organizations, along with a few others such as the American Academy of Family Physicians, also wrote a joint statement supporting the public health insurance option, at the time when the AMA was opposing it (which, as noted, was only a few weeks ago): http://www.seiu.org/images/pdfs/Joint_Physician_Statement_20090615-1.pdf. Lastly, all these organizations have a combined membership that represents more physicians than the AMA.
I support physicians who are committed to ensuring that everyone has access to guaranteed, high-quality, affordable health care. I applaud the AMA for recognizing that the public health insurance option is an important part of securing health care for all, but as noted in Mr. Ricciardelli’s excellent post, we should keep our eyes on the spin…
Dear Dr. Rohack,
Did you or any one delegate who endorse Obamacare READ the ACTUAL BILL? Medicare IS nationalized healthcare that is UNSUSTAINABLE by 2017. Medicaid and mediCAL are other entitlement programs that have bankrupted states like California.
With the government’s poor track record, why would you trust them to care for everyone when they could not care for a small segment?
Your endorsement of healthcare reform is fiscally irresponsible and without vision.
Many others physicians are duly enraged by your position. Endorsement of ‘healthcare reform’ will prove deleterious to an already dwindling AMA membership. Obamacare will bankrupt the nation. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) have stated on record that Obama’s health care reform is fiscally unsound.
The AMA’s support for Obamacare is a betrayal of our patients’ trust.
When my patients ask if they should support Obamacare because of the AMA’s support, I and many others will say, “The AMA does not speak for me.”
Very truly yours,
J L Borrillo