President Obama made hay today after the American Medical Association (AMA) and the AARP came out in support of the $1.2 TRILLION health care boondoggle that Nancy Pelosi is steamrolling through the House this week.Why on earth would the AMA support such an attack on physician control of health care?
The answer is because the AMA -- which represents less than 25% of all physicians -- has been bought and paid for with promises that doctors will somehow be protected from working more hours for less money. The Obama Administration has smartly promoted the idea of a primary-care physician focus at the expense of specialists, and has dangled the carrot of a more central and important role in the health care process. With this role will supposedly come more money -- that is until the system is bankrupt and rationing sets in.
But never mind about such small details.
Unbelievably, the AMA believes that Obamacare is somehow going to be good for them...even as the House Bill is full of regulations and restrictions on access and treatment planning. Oh, and it also does nothing about malpractice lawsuits -- and thus will do nothing to lower physician insurance premiums. Can't anger the trial lawyers, you know!
The AARP is even worse -- its left-wing leadership is selling seniors down the river for a plan that will cut Medicare, eliminate Medicare Advantage and make it even harder for them to find a doctor who will see them. The AARP has drunk the punch on this.
Announcing its decision to back the legislation via teleconference to its offices around the country, including its Pasadena branch, AARP officials said they support the bill because it would strengthen Medicare and end discrimination against elderly and sick people.
Yeah, right.
What you are witnessing here is special interest politics at its worst. Earlier this year it was Billy Tauzin and the insurance companies making a deal with the devil on Obamacare, only to find out that as soon as they turned around they got snake bit. This is the same thing -- the AMA and AARP will rue the day they put their stamp of approval on this giant leap toward socialized medicine.
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