AMA blows off stealth care in Porkulus

American Medical Association ^ | 2/11/09 | AMA

[KingOfVagabonds]

The American Medical Association irresponsibly downplays stealth care language in the Porkulus Bill. They fail to mention the context of the language--that it is part of a pork bill passed by left wing zealots that in large part have been pushing for nationalized health care for decades. They also fail to mention that there are no true negotiations happening. The language is so vague, the AMA is really off base here when they say the breadth and scope of control will not be that extensive.

[txnativegop]

Are they stupid? cutting their own throats

[DonaldC]

I think they may be right unless the government does something to take out the current insurance companies. They will have to control most if not all payment of medical costs before they can really force anything on health care. My fear is that once they have some kind of socialized program in place, companies will trip over themselves tossing out insurance plans in favor of the government plan, and then we will have something to fear.

[BossLady]

FYI

[anniegetyourgun]

If you understand that the AMA is simply a precursor professional union, this will make more sense to you.

[KingOfVagabonds]

Once the govt. removes tha tax incentive from private insurance, there will be no more competition. They can essentially force use of the govt. plan by this simple measure.

[geologist]

This is another step in the wrong direction.

No equivocations in regard to the wrongness of it.

[NTHockey]

Today in the local rag, Tom Carper and the seatwarmer Kaufmann took to task a woman who DARED to question the provisions. Over and over they repeated: “This is good for you”, “There’s no such provision”, etc.

They don’t listen to us when he express our views; they don’t care where or when the money is coming from; and they sure as Hades, don’t represent US.

May they suffer at the hands of a dull guillotine.

[bmwcyle]

The answer is yes. Doctors know their work and little else.

[SampleMan]

Are they stupid? cutting their own throats

The AMA is first and foremost an organization to promote leftist ideology. They generally try to connect their statements and studies to medicine in some fashion.

[DallasDeb]

My doc is fuming; so’s his nurse. They already have to jump through numerous hoops to not get “penalized” for not following every letter of the law. He has to go online to get special approvals on some Medicare issues or he doesn’t get paid.

[freespirited]

The AMA is first and foremost an organization to promote leftist ideology.

And it is barely recognizable from the AMA of 30, or even 20, years ago.

May be hard for younger FReepers to believe that not long ago, RATS were in the minority at the AMA and the two most detested words in its vocabulary were "socialized medicine." But it's true.

[freespirited]

The American Medical Association irresponsibly downplays stealth care language in the Porkulus Bill. They fail to mention the context of the language--that it is part of a pork bill passed by left wing zealots that in large part have been pushing for nationalized health care for decades. They also fail to mention that there are no true negotiations happening. The language is so vague, the AMA is really off base here when they say the breadth and scope of control will not be that extensive.

They also ignore the basic reality of government. What starts as a "guideline" morphs into a mandate before long, and minor financial penalties for noncompliance morph into fines plus prison sentences.

[bt_dooftlook]

Yeah, but - what does this have to do with ‘stimulus’? If it’s such a great idea, why not have a separate vote?

[em2vn]

Your statement doesn’t make sense.

[Antoninus]

Are they stupid? cutting their own throats

In my opinion, the far left has gotten into leadership positions in every major professional organization. Depend on none of them for anything rational any more. They have become political pressure groups.

[militant2]

“The AMA is first and foremost an organization to promote leftist ideology”

Absolutely on the money! On top of that, there is a surprisingly high number of physicians who think that socialized medicine is going to save health care!

By and large, docs are great technicians, but often very, very foolish when considering the bigger picture!

Militant

[dangerdoc]

Like many institutions, the AMA has become rotten from within. Nothing good has come from the AMA in decades. Nothing good will ever come from them again.

[The Great RJ]

The malpractice lawyers should be all over these health care provisions in Porkulus. How could you sue a physician when their medical decisions would be based on just following bureaucratic standards? So what if the patient dies or has a bad outcome, as long as I was following the government’s standards for treatment.

[anniegetyourgun]

Hhhmmm...let me be more clear. The AMA is run largely by liberal docs (much like the ABA is run by liberal lawyers). They do support the current administration, regardless of their constitutents desires. They will sell themselves to the devil and his details in the plan for socialized medicine.

Let me give you a real-life example. In it's early days, the WSNA (WA State Nurses Association) was a "professional association" for RNs - devoted to their education and advancement of the career. Needless to say, they morphed into a union decades ago.

It's been difficult to unionize docs (though some are) in this country. The best way to bring them under control - particularly as it relates to their wages - is to first socialize medicine. Once the government controls them, unionization will naturally follow.

See how that works?