American Medical Association Comes Out Against Nationalized Health Care
As one reader has already emailed, “It’s going to be tough for Obama to pass nationalized health care with the doctors against it.”
WASHINGTON — 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.
Though I have no love for the group, I agree with the AMA that health care should be provided through private markets. Of course, the AMA is also part of the problem with the existing health care system. By controlling the number students that can be admitted to accredited medical schools, and by promoting restrictive medical licensing requirements in the states, the AMA inflates doctor’s wages by controlling the supply of doctors.
If you’ve ever wondered why you only get about 5 minutes with your doctor when you go in for a visit and spend the rest of the time with nurses, the AMA’s control on the number of doctors in America is a big reason for it.
And, the AMA no doubt doesn’t want government health care because government health care would undermine the control the AMA has over the existing health care system.
All that being said, the AMA is a powerful opponent to Obama’s designs on nationalized health care. The future for nationalized health care in this country just got a whole lot dimmer, and that’s a good thing.
