Doctors call on AMA to drop ‘Medicare for All’ fight

A coalition of doctors, nurses and medical students are calling on the American Medical Association to drop its fight against “Medicare for All.”

The physicians group is among associations that oppose a single-payer system, which would discontinue Medicaid and private health insurance—squeezing hospital profits and threatening the existence of many health insurers.

However, groups like Physicians for a National Health Program and National Nurses United say many health care providers actually support proposals to expand Medicare. They—along with other associations, health care workers and advocacy groups—will protest the AMA’s opposition of “Medicare for All” in Chicago on Saturday.

At least 100 people are expected to gather for the demonstration, which starts at 1:30 p.m. outside Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois’ headquarters at 300 E. Randolph Street, and ends outside the Hyatt Regency Chicago at 151 E. Wacker Dr., where the AMA is holding its annual meeting.

The rally seems to have more momentum than any other single-payer protest in the last 10 years, said Dr. Philip Verhoef, a national board member of Physicians for a National Health Program, which has about 1,000 members in Illinois. He said several different groups had the idea to stage a rally during the AMA’s annual meeting, and they decided to come together to support the cause.

Starting the demonstration at Blue Cross is a “gesture to say, ‘this is the problem,’ ” added Verhoef, who is also an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at University of Chicago and an ICU doctor at UChicago Medicine. “Private health insurance is what has driven health care prices, inequity and waste in this country.”

The grassroots coalition is calling on the AMA to drop its fight against “Medicare for All” and withdraw from the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, an industry coalition fighting proposals to expand Medicare. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is also a member.

In addition to opposing “Medicare for All,” the AMA fought the formation of the program in the 1960s. However, it supported the Affordable Care Act in 2009.

“The status quo for our patients is unacceptable, and policymakers should continue taking steps to improve coverage, affordability, and expand the safety net,” AMA President Dr. Barbara L. McAneny said in a statement. “AMA policy says patients and physicians should have a range of public and private coverage options and benefit from freedom of choice and competition, which can be achieved by building on our current system, with the goal of providing coverage to all Americans.”

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois echoes the sentiment, saying in a statement the company “believes that everyone should have access to quality, affordable health care in a system built on choice, competition and innovation. We will continue to advocate for policies that support that goal in a sustainable way.”

Verhoef said some single-payer critics believe physician autonomy would be lost under “Medicare for All,” while highly paid doctors and specialists may be concerned their income would decrease under such a system.

It comes down to equity, said Verhoef.

“We have an incredibly inequitable system right now because we have (nearly) 30 million people who are uninsured” and even more who are underinsured, Verhoef said. “They don’t get the care they deserve. (“Medicare for All”) is a way to level the playing the field and give everyone comprehensive health care.”

Talisa Hardin, a representative of National Nurses United and a registered nurse in the burn unit of University of Chicago Medical Center, said she supports a single-payer system because the current system is “not designed to support and promote health.”

To the AMA, Verhoef says: “You’re not representing the majority of Americans and, quite frankly, the majority of physicians who all argue that single payer is the best solution.”

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