I received a "wire alert" email from the AMA asking me to contact my senator to advise him to vote against the Graham-Cassidy Amendment. The AMA has always had a political function but primarily one devoted to the advancement of private medicine. It's leadership is now fully invested in government controlled medical care with their organization being a major player. I stopped paying my dues 10 years ago after it revealed all its cards and came out in support of Obamacare.
What I am going to do in response is to advise my senators to vote in favor of the Graham-Cassidy Amendment. Of course that will be mostly a waste of time since both Pennsylvania senators will be voting along party lines.
But I also am going to recommend to you readers of these posts to support it. Government and other third party involvement in our health care over the past 5 decades has resulted in high prices, ridiculous regulation, stifling of service innovation and shifting control of health care decisions away from patients. This new bill is far from a solution to these problems but passage in the senate would at least get the matter into a conference committee with the house where a reasonable new law could be worked out. As incompetent as the present congress seems to be, many of the members as well as HHS Secretary Price understand the principles which would devolve medical care back to the control of patients and medical providers. We must get our health care out from under the control of the government and their third party allies.
And by all means do not be fooled into thinking that the AMA represents the thinking of the majority of American doctors. It does not.
