Healthcare Reform: AMA and The Mythical "Obama Plan"

August 8th, 2009
I am really happy that I do not belong to the AMA. Despite occasional efforts to fit in, I decided a while ago that professional associations, when they are trying to write something about the platforms they stand for, say something that never seems to even come close to what I think and feel.
James Rohack, the president of the AMA, especially has nothing to say on my behalf.
Of course the current state of medical care is lamentable. But the AMA says we have to go with the "Obama plan" just because "we have to do something??" Thus, the AMA is perpetuating the fallacy that Pres. Obama has specified a plan (He has said nothing more than to charge Congress with putting a plan together and suggesting it include a "public option"). Dr. Rohack said something about anti-trust laws stopping doctors from talking to each other; I think what he wants is a universal electronic medical record. He also seems to want to do something about "cover your ass" medicine, where doctors spend a couple of billion each year ordering tests to avoid getting sued, instead of doing something to advance the state of the patient. All laudable ambitions, but it sure sounds like he is in la-la land.
He has mentioned nothing about insurance and what it does to medicine and human lives. He sees the plan as "a start." The "we have to do something quickly" attitude pushed by the president of the United States and echoed by this president of the AMA has never advanced anything in human endeavor I can think of. Scholars and good ones have studied alternative approaches, the history of various models in different countries, and there can and should be some intelligent debate.
Intellect and logic need to be used to solve problems. The problem is insurance, government, and how they work. I might not expect a cardiologist, probably overworked, to give a scholarly analysis. I would expect him to analyze data, which he does not seem to have done.
AMA has a lot of experience at lobbying, to the point where many citizens believe it is actually a government department itself! Same for insurance and pharmaceutical companies. These people are players. My trust is in logic and argument, which I do not hear here.
There will be more discussion, and I'll try to clarify the issues - as well as give my humble, but well-considered position.