Health Care

AMA Endorses Senate Health Care Bill

Rachel Slajda | December 21, 2009, 1:46PM

AMA President Elect Cecil Wilson

The American Medical Association today endorsed the Senate health care reform bill.

The organization's president-elect, Cecil Wilson, spoke at a press conference with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other Senate Democrats.

"After close and careful review, the AMA is pleased to announce its support for passage of the amended health system reform bill," Wilson said.

He said the AMA supports several "key benefits" in the bill, including "improvements in choice and access" and the elimination of denials for pre-existing conditions.

Read more »

AMA

MoveOn Pulls The Lever, Calls On AMA To Ditch The Chamber

Brian Beutler | November 13, 2009, 2:18PM

Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Donohue

The liberal group MoveOn is exploiting an interesting opening to both support health care reform and weaken the Chamber of Commerce.

Citing the American Medical Association's endorsement of House health care legislation, and the Chamber of Commerce's unapologetic opposition to it, MoveOn is calling for the AMA and the Chamber to part ways.

MoveOn is calling on their doctors to sign a petition demanding that the AMA pull out.

"The American Medical Association has been running ads for months supporting President Obama's health care plan," reads a letter from MoveOn to supportive doctors.

Read more »

Barack Obama

Influential Players: How Six Big Stakeholders Shaped Health Care

Brian Beutler | November 11, 2009, 8:39AM

President Barack Obama

The biggest players in the health care reform debate often blur together into a swirl of acronyms and policy jargon. But they're also key to understanding how health care reform has been shaped, and how it's come as far as it has.

At this point in the health care debate, pro-reform groups have spent more money on health care ads than have well-heeled health care opponents. That's a testament to just how important the issue is to the liberal base, but it's also the precise effect President Obama was seeking when he partnered with the health care industry's most powerful stakeholders.

What sets the following six players apart is how they've defied the usual expectations and taken positions that don't easily fit into the usual left vs. right or corporate vs. consumer paradigm.

Read more »