Nation's largest doctor group rejects 'Medicare for all'

by Kimberly Leonard | June 11, 2019 01:57 PM

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The nation's largest doctor group narrowly defeated a measure Tuesday that would have ended their opposition to proposals that would allow the government to fully finance the U.S. healthcare system.

The group, the American Medical Association, will instead continue to back an expansion of Obamacare and begin to study "public option" approaches in which government coverage is offered to people alongside private health insurance plans. The plan it rejected is often referred to as "single payer," and in Congress it is embodied in the Medicare for All Act.

The bill would cover everyone living in the U.S. with a government plan and do away with private health insurance. It has long been pushed by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and has the backing of other Democratic candidates who currently serve in the Senate.

Bob Doherty, senior vice president of governmental affairs and public policy for the American College of Physicians, tweeted that the measure was defeated by only 53% of delegates at the conference.

"The delegates are clearly divided, nearly down the middle, on it," he wrote.

The American Medical Association has more than 200,000 members and is a powerful lobbying group in Congress. It belongs to the Partnership for America's Health Care Future, an organization that lobbies against government healthcare and that is also comprised of health insurers, hospitals, and drug companies.

Delegates rejected the move toward supporting a government-financed healthcare system as part of their annual meeting in Chicago. During the weekend, 40 liberal activists disrupted the conference to get the attention of members by holding a "die in" to have the group support government healthcare and leave the Partnership for America's Health Care future.

Roughly 25% of practicing physicians belong to the group, which concluded at its meeting that Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, was "not broken, but it is imperfect." They recommended providing coverage to the roughly 30 million people who don't have health insurance, rather than "upending the health insurance coverage of most Americans," the group said in a release.

They are backing an increase in federal subsidies for people who buy their own health insurance and making more people eligible for them, as well as an increase in the amount the government would pay toward people's out-of-pocket medical expenses if they're on Obamacare plans.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/nations-largest-doctor-group-rejects-medicare-for-all