2010-09-14 · By Editor
As Americans learn what ObamaCare will mean for quality and access to medical services, “we are witnessing an ever-increasing chorus of Americans — from think tanks to tea partiers to accountants — who are decrying the underhanded tactics” used to get the legislation passed, including the exploitation of the AMA‘s claim to speak for doctors.
If the AMA had done its job of representing its constituents, the American people and Congress would have known what doctors really thought about ObamaCare before the final vote was taken. Instead, the “people and doctors of America have been betrayed by self-serving medical leaders,” states Adam Frederic Dorin, M.D., a San Diego anesthesiologist.
“The ‘change’ is hardly a reform,” Dorin writes in the fall issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. It will create “an overwhelming burden of increased costs, fees, and taxes.” Any “protection” in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is for the interests of trial lawyers.
The AMA chose to disregard the majority dissent within its own ranks, and despite ample opportunity to reverse its misguided endorsement of PPACA, failed to do so. One has to ask: “Why?”
With its net revenue of $70 million to $100 million annually from its exclusive contract with the government to develop and sell billing codes, far greater than its dues revenue, the AMA can apparently afford to disregard the views of doctors, Dorin writes.
AMA President Cecil B. Wilson, M.D., defended the contract, saying “we should all be proud” of the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT(R)), in the AMA eVoice of Aug 27, 2010. As he points out, “The AMA derives no income from the federal government for the agreement.” That is true, but disingenuous. The agreement enables the AMA to collect from doctors, who are forced to purchase updated code books each year, and to collect royalties from the licensing of the billing codes.
Wilson downplays the significance of the agreement, and the AMA does not make the wording readily accessible to members. The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) called attention to it in 1998.
Doctor Dorin founded the website Physicians Against Obama Care; he helped organize the National Doctors Tea Party on Aug. 7 in San Diego to call for the repeal of ObamaCare, and to publicize the fact that the AMA does not represent the majority of doctors’ views on this legislation.
Physicians Against ObamaCare formally issues the following Challenge to the American Medical Association:
“Release the medical billing code copyright monopoly and assign the codes to the ‘public domain’ in an Internet-based ‘freeware’ system. This would save American docs 70 to 100 million dollars annually and would go a long way toward the spirit of cost-savings in the healthcare system. Without the unfair coding monopoly, the AMA can then compete fairly, on a level playing field, with other medical groups for the membership it so desperately lacks.”
Doctor Dorin has worked with organizations and politicians to achieve the eventual de-funding, repealing, and revising of the misguided and flawed ObamaCare legislation.
For additional information on Physicians Against ObamaCare, contact the Physicians Against ObamaCare website, Afdorinmdmba@aol.com, 858-344-0083.
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This is fantastic–thank you, Doctor Dorin! Unbelievable to find this gem among the rubish of stuff that passes as leadership in the medical field nowadays. Doctor Adam Dorin and his Physicians Against Obamacare website have added a strong voice to the few other courageous medical groups willing to challenge the corrupt AMA (for example, docs4PC, AAPS, the American College of Surgeons and other specialty medical societies). And don’t forget that the AMA has help in carrying out its “betrayal” of doctors in this country. Does anyone know how much money the local medical society in San Diego paid its officers to lobby for the AMA against the will of the majority of its constituents in town–think in the six figures! Thank God some doctors have the will to stand up to corruption. ObamaCare is not good for patients and it will be devastating to our physicians. Great piece!
I agree with Marcie, and happen to know about the unfortunate behavior of the medical elite who purport to represent their doctor members in these medical societies. In fact, right here in San Diego, almost $300,000 dollars of members dues was spent over the last two years supporting the AMA against the will of the local physician community. How this is not deemed stealing, at best, is hard to fathom. Physicians Against Obamacare is doing an exceptional job in helping get the real facts out on the horrendous legislation called Obamacare.
To say there was something underhanded about the AMA’s position on health care reform is ridiculous and unsubstantiated, as are claims that health reform and CPT are connected in any way. There is absolutely no connection between health reform and CPT, which was recognized as the standard for physician coding by the Reagan Administration in 1983. As a non-profit organization, any revenue the AMA receives goes to fund activities that further our mission of helping physicians do what they do best – care for patients. As the nation’s largest physician organization, the AMA is non-partisan and focused on physicians and patients – not partisan politics. AMA policy is democratically voted on by the House of Delegates, which includes physician members from every state and medical specialty society. While not perfect, the new law covers 32 million uninsured Americans and improves the health care system for everyone. We will continue to press on vigorously to fix our broken Medicare physician payment system and enact medical liability reforms that help reduce health care costs.
Actually, as an insider on the local and national level in medical and AMA politics, I can say the AMA is not being totally honest here. If they truly believe in their position that the CPT code revenue and their politics are not connected, then they should seriously consider taking the challenge issued by the group Physicians Against Obamacare. Why not give up the coding revenue if it saves doctors money and contributes to a “freeware” system for all to use. Why not?
The A.M.A. lies. They are sitting on hundreds of millions of profit from their coding monopoly and the insurance policies they sell. By siding with their primary master, the federal government, over those who should be their constituents, America’s doctors, they have shown their true colors. Time to cancel the AMA membership and let the American Medical Association wither away. Since “being at the table” with the A.M.A. has now clearly proved to be detrimental to the medical field in the United States, it’s time to fix the mess they helped bring in the form of Obamacare.
For almost all of United States history, we have done just fine with ZERO government interference in medical care. Then, in 1965, Lyndon Johnson bought votes with his medicare and medicaid programs, which are now bankrupting the nation. Right then, things started getting worse, instead of better, as they had been,, and the more government interference there is, the worse things get. Physicians are stressed and distracted.