AMA drops out of Medicare for All opposition coalition
The AMA still opposes Medicare for All, but wants to focus on bolstering solutions it supports, rather than attacking those it opposes.
The American Medical Association, the formidable physicians lobby, announced on Thursday that it would no longer participate in a Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, a group mounting a campaign against Medicare for All and other Democratic proposals to expand government involvement in health care.
The AMA continues to oppose Medicare for All, group president James Madara said in a statement. However, he said the group wanted to focus on bolstering solutions it supports, rather than attacking those it opposes.
Related: AMA narrowly divided in opposition to Medicare for All
“Practical solutions have been identified and continue to be championed by the AMA,” Madara said. “The AMA decided to leave the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future so that we can devote more time to advocating for these policies that will address current coverage gaps and dysfunction in our health care system.”
Examples of solutions will likely include increased subsidies for Obamacare enrollees and other policies to stabilize the ACA marketplace, which President Trump and Congressional Republicans have sought to undermine.
The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future is a coalition of health care industry interests opposed to single-payer health care, including pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and insurers. The participation of the AMA provided a powerful endorsement from one of the few groups in the health care sector that does not garner widespread suspicion.
There are strong indications that America’s physicians are as divided on health care policy as the broader public. In June the AMA House of Delegates, the organization’s policy-making body, only narrowly voted to continue its longstanding opposition to single-payer health care: 53 to 47 percent.
If doctors are warming to the idea of single-payer –– or at least a public option –– it would not be the first time they have evolved. The AMA mounted a fierce campaign against the establishment of Medicare in the early 1960’s, enlisting the support of then-actor Ronald Reagan to record messages in opposition to “socialized medicine.” The AMA has since become a reliable defender of Medicare.
Read more:
- Why single-payer may be closer than you think (and what to do about it)
- CMS won’t “waste time” on single-payer, Verma says
- CBO: Medicare for All a ‘major undertaking’