- Cover all Americans
- Expand choice, eliminate denials
- Protect the patient-physician relationship
- Repeal Medicare SGR
- Reduce defensive medicine
- Streamline administration
- Promote quality, prevention, wellness
I think they did a pretty good job with this. I also like to look at the words used by big organizations just to see their motivation for any "small" changes. You will see that the title is called "Health System Reform" instead of Health Care Reform. Not sure why we lose the caring part? You will notice it says cover all "Americans" which makes many anti-immigrant groups happy. You also will see that it is "patient-physician" relationship instead of "physician-patient" relationship. I am sure some marketing guru made the point that the AMA would look better by always putting the patient first and bada bing, there you have it in point #3.
The glaring absence is the charge to direct more students into primary care. Covering all Americans does no good if there are not enough doctors to see them. The AMA is well aware of this fact and they well aware of the reasons why (low pay, high school loans). The AMA is also well aware of who they truly represent (mostly specialists) and therefore made a conscious choice not to put this recommendation into their "guiding principles". Forget all the politics and bickering between specialists and primary care docs, the bottom line is that this new health system is not a system without enough grunts on the front line seeing all these new patients. Once again the AMA proves they don't represent me.
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