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AMA Meets This Week
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Medpagetoday.com REPORTS HERE on the upcoming meeting of the American Medical Association.  Says Medpagetoday "When the American Medical Association opens its House of Delegates meeting tomorrow, in addition to the customary flag-waving and band-playing that are a tradition here, the association leadership will also be facing the music over their backing of healthcare reform.  A year ago the AMA welcomed President Obama to its meeting and signaled that it would throw its weight behind the administration's healthcare reform campaign. But that was before last summer's raucous town hall meetings or the growing strength of the Tea Party, and long before the late-night debates in the House and Senate that culminated in the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Now a year later and with healthcare reform finally a reality, some of the AMA rank and file are crying foul."

"For example, as the meeting opens here, Congress has still failed to "fix" Medicare's sustainable growth rate formula and doctors are still faced with a 21% cut in reimbursement, despite promises from a Democratic president and Democratic congress to give them a permanent fix to the yearly Medicare pay follies."

The report goes on to note that a "former AMA president, who has been vocal in his opposition to Obamacare, tried to rally the troops with an e-mail blast."  He claims "the association, in his opinion, has lost its bearings, and he has signaled that he plans to push for a course adjustment. 'Although the AMA in theory represents all physicians via the state medical and specialty medical associations seated in the House of Delegates, the current paying membership is probably 15 to 18% of physicians in USA, he wrote."

The former AMA president continued, "Certainly it is the responsibility of AMA leadership to give the House of Delegates the actual membership numbers at this meeting and not give the excuse that the books are not closed yet. How many dues paying members as of the end of 2009, and how many in 2010 have sent in their dues so far? And how many of those are reduced student and resident dues? My point is the membership continues to drop. I believe the majority of physicians in the USA are opposed to the position taken by the AMA on the enacted law for 'health system reform.'"

"Sounding a similar note, the Illinois State Medical Society is asking the AMA to press Congress to change Medicare regulations so that physicians can change their Medicare participation status at any time of year, rather than the once a year window that is available now....because they claim that Medicare has not given physicians a real raise since 2001, which makes doctors "essentially price-fixed" and because Congress has so far failed to fix the SGR, 'most physician practices are facing financial hardship'."

During the 5-day meeting of the AMA, "they will be debating more than 200 resolutions and reports dealing with issues ranging from health food supplements to e-cigarettes."

"Also on the AMA's agenda is a resolution from the Wisconsin Medical Society that asks the AMA to lobby for repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a heterosexual union....The AMA is on record in support of repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy...."
 
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