Dear Colleague and Member of Physicians for a National Health Program,
As neurologist members of the AAN, we were disheartened by the AAN’s recent survey of its membership on legislative issues, which focused on a narrow range of practice-related issues. As supporters of single payer health care, we would like to invite you to join us in signing the letter below to Dr Griggs, the President of the AAN, asking him to undertake a survey of AAN members on their opinions on health care system reform. We suspect that there may be significant support for single payer among neurologists; if this is confirmed, this could be a powerful motivator for the AAN to take a pro-single payer position.
Sincerely,
Dr. Rachel Nardin
Chief, Division of Neurology, Cambridge Health Alliance
Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Laura Boylan
Clinical Associate Professor
Department of Neurology, New York University School of Medicine
Dr. Deborah B. Leiderman
Fellow, AAN
Consulting Neurologist and President, CNS Drug Consulting LLC
Dear Dr Griggs,
We write as concerned neurologists to suggest that the AAN survey its members about their advocacy interests beyond narrowly conceived neurology practice issues. As national health reform efforts continue, we hope that the AAN will advocate for reforms supported by a majority of its members. To do so first requires understanding the views of the membership on health system reform.
In a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2008, Drs. Caroll and Ackerman surveyed a randomly selected group of 5,000 physicians from the AMA masterfile, asking the following questions: 1) In principle, do you support or oppose government legislation to establish national health insurance? and 2) Do you support achieving universal coverage through more incremental reform?
Overall 59% of doctors in all medical specialties endorsed national health insurance, up from 49% in 2002. This suggests that neurologists’ views might be similar, although neurologists were not specifically surveyed in this study.
We strongly believe that the AAN should carry out a similar survey of its members so as to be able faithfully to represent its members’ voice in the national health reform debate. We ask you to carry out such a survey.
Sincerely,