The AMA Doesn't Represent Doctors
Posted on June 15th, 2009 by Jason Rosenbaum in Profits Before People
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Here's a statement from doctors on the public health insurance option put out today [pdf]:
As doctors, we see patients every day who are more afraid of their medical bills than their illnesses. It frustrates and saddens us to care for patients with what began as a simple and inexpensive medical problem, but has developed into a life-threatening condition. It makes us angry to see children suffering from treatable illnesses, like asthma, in the Emergency Room because they literally have nowhere else to go.
All doctors need to work together to solve our health care crisis. Part of this solution should be the inclusion of a high-quality public health insurance option that competes fairly with private plans. Having the choice of a public health insurance plan will help make health care more affordable for patients, foster greater competition in the insurance market, and guarantee that quality, affordable coverage will be there for our patients no matter what happens.
Who's that statement signed by?
The American Academy of Family Physicians
The American Medical Student Association
The Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare
Doctors Council/SEIU Healthcare
Doctors for America
The National Doctors Alliance/SEIU Healthcare
The National Physicians Alliance
The Student National Medical Association
A nice, comprehensive list, no?
This just further goes to show how far out of the mainstream the AMA is, not only in their opposition to President Obama's health care plan, but in their membership in general. Wikipedia lays out the facts (h/t DemFromCT, who's got a great piece about doctors and the AMA over at Daily Kos):
Physician membership in the group has decreased to lower than 19% of practicing physicians. In 2004, AMA reported membership totals of 244,569, which included retired and practicing physicians along with medical students, residents, and fellows. The medical school section (MSS) reported totals of 48,868 members, while the resident and fellow section (RFS) reported 24,069 members. Combined they account for almost 30% of AMA members. [3] If every other member of the AMA was a fully qualified practicing physician then the AMA would represent 19% of America's practicing physicians (There are currently approximately 900,000 practicing physicians in America). However, MedPage Today estimates that the AMA only represents 135,300 "real, practicing physicians" as of 2005 (15.0% of the United States practicing physicians). [4] When asked about this, Jeremy Lazarus, MD, a speaker in the AMA House of Delegates, stated that membership was stable, avoiding commenting on the low overall numbers (2005 AMSA annual meeting, AMA vs. PNHP healthcare debate, Arlington, Virginia).
It is not true that doctors are against health care reform and the public health insurance option. And it is not true that the AMA represents doctors. If I and the AMA were being truthful, we could say that the AMA, which represents a small minority of doctors, mostly specialists or retired, is against President Obama's health care plan.
When I was a younger psychologist (I'm 81 now) and working at what was then called the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, essentially run by the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association, the AMA was called "the American Money Association." I haven't heard that recently, though as far as I can see it's still appropriate: the primary interest of the AMA is physicians' income.
The AMA represents doctors about as well as the ANA (American Nurses Assoc.) represents nurses. Have been a nurse since 1962, 47 years. We were taught to "care" for patients not clients or customers as was the new 1980's mantra. Doctors have little say in how they practice medicine. It is the insurance companies who dictate care by not paying to keep people healthy but treating disease after it happens and then denying payment with the cry of "pre-existing conditions". We desperately need a UNIVERSAL SINGLE PAYER plan in this country. Thinking that the insurance companies and drug companies can be a part of the solution to rising health care costs is crazy. They are the ones that got us into this mess and they won't help us get out. Reminds me of the "fox guarding the hen house". We need to keep the pressure on the President and our legislators so that they listen to the "will of the people" and not the lobbyists who line their pockets.