AMA President Rohack Responds to Recent Health Reform Watch Blog on 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.

AMA About Face on Public Plan?

Janus coin

CNN reports that Dr. J. James Rohack, 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.”

And that

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

As we posted back on June 11, 2009 the AMA had announced the day prior that it would “lobby against the inclusion of a Public Plan in health care reform legislation.”

At that time, many people made note of the AMA’s long history of opposition to “public” health measures such as Medicare and Medicaid, and as we noted in our post, “AMA to Oppose Public Plan–Again,” “at least one physician, Dr. Chris McCoy, Policy Chair for the National Physicians Alliance…publicly quit the AMA in response.”

But that was way back on June 11^th , a full twenty days ago. Apparently something has changed since then? Although Dr. Rohack became president of the AMA on June 16^th, under the circumstances that alone seems insufficient to account for the purported change.

Insurance & Financial Advisor Webnews describes the situation thus:

The new president of the American Medical Association appears to have confused or complicated the organization’s position on a public health insurance option during a CNN interview.

Dr. J. James Rohack, a physician in Texas who became president of the largest doctors’ group in the nation June 16, said in a live interview Wednesday (July 1) with CNN’s Tony Harris and Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen that the group wants people who lack health insurance to be put into the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan, the insurance program for federal employees and members of Congress.

“If it’s good enough for Congress, why shouldn’t it be good enough for individuals who don’t have health insurance provided by their employers,” Rohack said in the nine-minute interview.

A call for comment from the AMA was not returned.

One of the more interesting things about this apparent change of heart is that Dr. Rohack’s ascendancy to the post was preordained , so to speak . The AMA chooses it’s “president-elects” a full year in advance (the present AMA president-elect is Dr. Cecil B. Wilson, named on June 15, 2009, will take office in June, 2010 ).

According to this Reuters Press Release from June 17, 2008 announcing Dr. Rohack as the president-elect, Dr. Rohack was certainly no stranger to the inner sanctum of AMA policy decisions prior to becoming president. He did not just jump upon the scene:

“Taking a leadership role with the AMA in 2001 when he was first elected to theAMA Board of Trustees, Dr. Rohack served a one-year term as chair of the AMA Board of Trustees in 2004-2005.  He was reelected to a final four year term in 2005.”

Presumably, as one in “a leadership role” this year as both a Board of Trustees Member and as president-elect, Dr. Rohack was privy to, and part of, the AMA’s announcement (five days before he assumed the presidency) that they would “lobby against the inclusion of a Public Plan in health care reform legislation.” Therefore, his ascendancy seems insufficient to account for the change .

The question then is what could have changed in those twenty days between proclamations besides the ascendancy of Dr. Rohack? New research? A close reading of Profs Cortez, Greaney, Jost, Jacobi and Pasquale? I think not. Although reluctant to criticize for a reasoned and responsive change in direction (to reconsider carefully in the face of conflicting data is a good thing), this sudden (and unexplained) shift of direction smacks of politics and P.R. from an organization which is no stranger to either. I can’t help but find myself thinking of Tess of the d’Urbervilles when faced with her “converted” malefactor Alec:

“Don’t go on with it!” she cried passionately, as she turned away from him to a stile by the wayside, on which she bent herself. “I can’t believe in such sudden things! I feel indignant with you for talking to me like this when you know–when you know what harm you’ve done me!

I’m not sure what harm the AMA has actually done, but their repeated opposition to public options such as Medicare, Medicaid, early forms of HMO’s which sprung up in the Great Depression era, and the present Public Plan have not helped.

Keep your eyes on the spin.

Having said all that, a final note. CNN reported on

“the American Medical Association, which represents the interests of the nation’s doctors…”

Whether or not the AMA can be said to actually “represent the interests of the nation’s doctors,” is, perhaps, subject for debate. A quick google search on the AMA brings up some interesting figures: “the percentage of doctors who belonged to the organization declined from the mid-1960s on. At the height of the group’s campaign against Medicare, the AMA claimed at least 70 percent of American doctors as members. By the mid-1990s, the AMA represented only about 40 percent of American doctors.”

The 40% number of the mid-1990’s is a fond memory for the AMA. The present number for American doctor membership is closer to 22 ½ % — and that’s counting students and interns (who pay reduced yearly dues of only $20 and $45 respectively).

On June 14, 2009, Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today reported on the present status of the AMA:

Although the group boasts close to 240,000 members, 29% are students or residents, who pay sharply discounted dues. Still more of the members are retirees, whose dues are also cut.

The AMA’s Council on Long Range Planning and Development had more specificity. It reported that there are 1,060,333 physicians and medical students in the United States and 238,977 of them AMA members.

Of those members, 20.5% are medical students, 9% are residents, and 36.5% are 56 or older. As one delegate put it, “we have a lot of students and a lot of old docs, but not a lot of practicing physicians.”