Tuesday, June 16, 2009

What the AMA is really about (hint: not health care)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

My friend Barbara O'Brien (a.k.a. Maha of the very fine Mahablog) runs the Mesothelioma Law & Politics blog at the Mesothelioma & Asbestos Awareness Center and has been writing extensively on health-care reform. For example, this must-read post on the American Medical Association's appalling (if all-too predictable) opposition to a "public option," that is, to a government-sponsored system (or even part of a system). Here's a key passage, laying bare the AMA's priorities:

We need to understand that the AMA is not the benevolent protector of sound medical practice it makes itself out to be. Its primary function is to protect the profit margins of the health care industry.

Make sure to read the whole thing. (And check back often with the MLP blog -- see also Barbara's series on the relationship between health-care and tort reform.)

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For more on the AMA and health-care reform, see our own J. Thomas Duffy's recent post, "Maybe Starbucks can sponsor the AMA's Operation Coffee Cup II."

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For more on Obama's speech to the AMA, see TNR's Jonathan Cohn, one of the leading voices on health-care reform anywhere.

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2 Comments:

  • Chromium 6 kills! And is spreading an epidemic of diabetes, which means people are then dependent on medical supplies for the rest of their lives. Then they get sent to the Pepsi Hospital, owned by Whitman Corp., where our son died of chromium poisoning, but the mortuary is owned by the mayor, who later becomes the County Supervisor overseeing the hospital. As Obama was asked, ISN'T THIS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST? We don't have that here.
    www.earthspeak.org

    By Anonymous earthspeak.org, at 12:21 PM  

  • I find it odd that you would post a blog entry from someone working as a paid writer for a special interest. The supposed blog she writes for is sponsored by an asbestos law firm. Serious conflict of interest.

    By Anonymous Richard, at 7:05 PM  

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