Free Republic

...As I watched the recent presidential campaign many things struck me as odd, but one in particular. Barack Obama enjoyed the support of the United Mine Workers Union. That in itself is not a big surprise as he had the support of every union as Democrat politicians usually have. The interesting part was when you factored in Obama’s comments regarding the future of coal:

Earlier in the week, the American Medical Association (AMA), the nation’s largest physician organization, declared its backing for the most recent version of Obamacare. Doctors are notoriously bad businessman and, judging from the AMA’s haste to support pretty much any bill Congress proposes, it seems that negotiating is not the strong suit of physicians, either. During the prolonged health-care debate, the AMA sought two sensible reforms: an abolishment of the SGR and tort reform. The Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) is a formula utilized by Medicare to determine Medicare physician reimbursement rates for the following year. Every year since 2002, the...

Democrats have been wildly misleading people about where doctors stand on ObamaCare. After bribing his way into AARP and AMA endorsements, Obama has been treating them as the final word on the matter and ramping up the partisan smears against his opponents. But what he is characteristically leaving out is that only about 15-20% of doctors actually belong to the AMA and the vast majority of doctors actually reject ObamaCare. From National Review: "...92 percent of doctors don’t think the Democratic bills address the “real sources of cost increases,” and 94 percent don’t think there can be “effective” health reform...

The Ronald Reagan U.C.L.A. Medical Center, one of the nation’s most highly regarded academic hospitals, has earned a reputation as a place where doctors will go to virtually any length and expense to try to save a patient’s life. “If you come into this hospital, we’re not going to let you die,” said Dr. David T. Feinberg, the hospital system’s chief executive. Yet that ethos has made the medical center a prime target for critics in the Obama administration and elsewhere who talk about how much money the nation wastes on needless tests and futile procedures. They like to note...

My question is if the medical profession is so concerned about people who can't afford health insurance, why don't they simply reduce their prices to the uninsured and or provide charity clinics for poor people. Why should we have to submit to socialism and outright force to please the AMA and guarantee income for their professional scalpers? Are they afraid they will lose some of their precious profits? Why do they feel it's their privilege to rob the taxpayers? Doctors and politicians must be cut from the same cloth.

The American Medical Association endorsed the Senate's healthcare reform legislation Monday, giving Democrats the blessing of the nation's largest physician society as the bill approaches the finish line.The endorsement stands as a significant coup for President Barack Obama and congressional Democratic leaders, who have aggressively sought the AMA’s backing. The organization had opposed comprehensive healthcare reform bills dating back to the Truman administration. In addition to whatever resources the AMA can bring to help speed healthcare reform legislation toward final passage, the endorsement also offers Democrats with the symbolic support of physicians, who could help popularize the effort and would be...

Two days after health reform cleared its first major hurdle in the Senate, two groups launched a joint television ad campaign. The AARP and American Medical Association (AMA) are undertaking the effort to promote the legislation’s effect on Medicare. "AARP is fighting to protect and improve the sacred promise of Medicare made to the millions of older Americans who depend upon it,” said AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond. "Now special interests are using myths and misinformation to distort the truth and wrongly suggesting that Medicare will be harmed. After a lifetime of hard work, don't seniors deserve better?”  The...

"American Idol" runner-up Adam Lambert's vocals weren't top-notch at last night's American Music Awards, but nobody really noticed. How could they, given his over-the-top and in-your-face sexual choreography. Lambert's act during the show, aired on ABC, featured male dancers on leashes, an open-mouth kiss between Lambert and his male keyboardist, and simulated oral sex, both male-on-male and female-on-male. Naturally, boundary-pushing Hollywood hailed Lambert's performance. "As a TV viewer, I thought Lambert's performance was a gas, a delight, a blast of brash vulgarity in the midst of ordinary vulgarity," wrote Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker.

Adam Lambert, the American Idol star, outraged viewers of the American Music Awards with an X-rated performance in which he simulated oral sex with a male dancer. Lambert set out to shock with a risque routine which also saw him kissing a male band mate and walking two men in bondage gear across the stage on dog leads. He was singing his new release, For Your Entertainment. After the performance, his first since American Idol, Lambert said: "I'm hoping people were entertained. For those who weren't, maybe I'm not your cup of tea." If the show was to be censored...

Not surprisingly, the American Medical Association took umbrage to our recent editorial titled "A proud legacy trashed." The response from AMA president Dr. J James Rohack barely addresses the issues our editorial put forth. For one thing, Dr. Rohack tries to explain away the declining membership of the organization, when addressing the issue of the low representation of practicing doctors who are currently members.

Supporters of the House health care bill who tout the American Medical Association's endorsement fail to mention that the AMA no longer represents the majority of American doctors or that it frequently backs left-wing policy proposals. There was a brief flash of the old AMA earlier this week when the organization's House of Delegates reconsidered the resolution endorsing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's monstrosity, H.R. 3962. Unfortunately, the resolution was voted down by a wide margin. As a result, the AMA continues to back the health care legislation passed in the House last weekend. Best known for advocating against health care...

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, issued the following statement today on the American Medical Association’s (AMA) announcements regarding LGBT rights. AMA members voted to join the effort to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and declared that bans on same-sex marriage result in health disparities for LGBT couples and families.

As the suicidal Democratic congressmen proceed to rubber-stamp the Obama healthcare reform despite the drubbing their party took in the ’09 elections, the president trotted out the endorsements of the AMA and the AARP to stimulate support. But these — and the other endorsements — his package has received are all bought and paid for. Here are the deals: · The American Medical Association (AMA) was facing a 21 percent cut in physicians’ reimbursements under the current law. Obama promised to kill the cut if they backed his bill. The cuts are the fruit of a law requiring annual 5-6...

The American Medical Association House of Delegates drew up a resolution last night which would withdraw their support of the House health care bill. Members are likely to vote on whether or not to withdraw their support of the bill earlier in the week. This action is a result of members within the organization who revolted, when the AMA initially gave the the healthcare legislation its endorsement. President Obama touted the endorsement of the AMA and AARP on Thursday at the White House.

Some AMA members are outraged that the group's trustees made the endorsement without the formal approval of the organization's House of Delegates. The American Medical Association's much-touted endorsement of the House health care reform bill has triggered a revolt among some members who want the endorsement withdrawn. Some members are outraged that the group's trustees made the endorsement without the formal approval of the organization's House of Delegates. On Monday, delegates will vote on a resolution offered by some members that, if approved, will withdraw the AMA’s endorsement of the bill. President Obama cited the endorsement of the influential AMA,...

The American Medical Association's much-touted endorsement of the House health care reform bill has triggered a revolt among some members who want the endorsement withdrawn. Some members are outraged that the group's trustees made the endorsement without the formal approval of the organization's House of Delegates. On Monday, delegates will vote on a resolution offered by some members that, if approved, will withdraw the AMA’s endorsement of the bill. President Obama cited the endorsement of the influential AMA, along with AARP's, in a surprise appearance Thursday in the White House briefing room as he attempted to beat back criticism that...

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/399/hsr-ama-pelosi-letter.pdf

DoctorFinder for Patients The information contained in the AMA DoctorFinder report does NOT meet the primary source equivalency requirement as set forth in the credentialing standards of accreditation organizations such as the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) or the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).Nidal Malik Hasan , MD (Non-Member) Primary Specialty (Self Designated)(note): PSYCHIATRY Location: Killeen, TX 76541

It came as no surprise to learn this morning that the American Medical Association announced its support for concurrent passage of two health care reform bills in the U.S. House of Representatives. Sadly, the once-respected organization of physicians now joins the ranks of the misguided AARP (See “Despite Early Denials, AARP Endorsing ObamaCare”).

President Obama has assured his bobble heads that health care reform won't add anything to the deficit. It's difficult to figure out how a bill that costs somewhere just south of a trillion dollars is going to be deficit neutral. But bureaucrats have a mathematical principle available to them that we regular folk aren't allowed to use. It's called calling it something else. President Obama has made serial promises that he will not sign a health-care bill that "adds one dime to our deficits, either now or in the future, period." This was never plausible, but now we can begin...

Details emerge of the scam job meeting on the White House lawn. Michelle Malkin tells Sean Hannity the greasy tactics of the Obama White House.

Politics: The administration stages a photo-op with handpicked doctors who support its health care reform. Fortunately, most doctors still believe that the first rule of medicine is to do no harm. It would seem some doctors still make house calls. Some 150 of them made one at the White House Monday in an attempt to give a booster shot to the administration's chaotic and stalled health care reform drive. Rather than a grass-roots uprising of physicians, this was a classic case of AstroTurfing. Attendance was by invitation only, and 40 of the 150 were said to be members of Doctors...

Not only did the four doctors who flanked President Obama at his White House press event on Monday recommend his plan; three out of four of them donated to his presidential campaign. It could be an ad slogan to put the toothpaste marketers who like to brag that nine out of ten doctors recommend their brand to shame. The four doctors who stood and clapped along with Mr. Obama’s plans were Dr. Mona Mangat of St. Petersburg, Florida, Dr. Hershey Garner of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Dr. Richard A. Evans of Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, and Dr. Amanda McKinney of Beatrice, Nebraska. Campaign finance...

Is President Obama trying to score brownie points with the majority doctors out there? Ya just never know with the young president. One day you’re his enemy, the next day, your best friend. We’ve seen it all before. Today the president gathered doctors representing the AMA (and a variety of the medical organizations) to show how MDs support his health care plan. The lab coats are a nice touch, cause otherwise we would have to take his word for it that they are actually doctors. All style no substance.

What appears to be the official blog of President Obama’s administration is all aflutter because the President will welcome, “doctors from across the United States to the White House to share their unique perspective on the struggles that American families face every day when it comes to health care.” (They posted today’s agenda in the name of transparency!) -snip- Of the eight insurers listed, Medicare is most likely to reject a claim, sending away 6.85% of requests. This is more than any private insurer and double that of the private insurers’ average!

U.S. President Barack Obama waves to doctors in attendance from across the country after making remarks on the need for health insurance reform in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, October 5, 2009. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES POLITICS HEALTH BUSINESS)

The cavalry is here -- and they're in white coats and scrubs: More than a half a million doctors and millions of nurses are joining forces to help pass real health reform. Americans listen to their nurses and doctors when it comes to health reform -- and for good reason. If we can help them amplify their voices, it'll be a huge boost to our campaign for change. So we're working on a new television ad featuring their voices explaining why doctors and nurses so strongly support President Obama's plan -- and asking Congress to pass it. We'll run the...

Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted... The poll contradicts the claims of not only the White House, but also doctors' own lobby — the powerful American Medical Association — both of which suggest the medical profession is behind the proposed overhaul. It also calls into question whether an overhaul is even doable; 72% of the doctors polled disagree with the administration's claim that the government can cover 47 million more people with better-quality...

One of the criticisms of Obamacare is how will doctors be able to handle the extra patients if all of a sudden all the uninsured become part of their case load. If he new study of doctors performed by IBD is to be believed, the problem will be worse than originally thought, as 45% of all doctors will consider leaving the profession if Obamacare is passed in its present form (take that American Medical Association). More than 800,000 doctors were practicing in 2006, the government says. Projecting the poll's finding onto that population, 360,000 doctors would consider quitting. YIKES, forget...

Today, we are constantly being told, the United States faces a health care crisis. Medical costs are too high, and health insurance is out of reach of the poor. The cause of this crisis is never made very clear, but the cure is obvious to nearly everybody: government must step in to solve the problem. Eighty years ago, Americans were also told that their nation was facing a health care crisis. Then, however, the complaint was that medical costs were too low, and that health insurance was too accessible. But in that era, too, government stepped forward to solve the...

In his war against terrorism, President George W. Bush declared a simple, binary formula to judge the world: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." Now, Obama and the Democratic leadership have borrowed the same formula to draw the battle lines over health care reform, dividing the country into those who are for ObamaCare and those who are evil-mongers. But the entities that will be most injurious to the nation's health are not so much in the evil-mongers' group but the first group, including the American Medical Association—a doctors' cartel that has controlled the medical labor...

This is a report on one of the great sell-outs in American history: How the insurance companies, the drug companies (PhRMA), the AARP, and the AMA have all sold-out their principles to get a piece of the profit of Obamacare for themselves. Instead of standing on their principles, and taking a position on whether Obamacare would be good for America, they are rushing in to make a deal to protect their own interests. This is not just my interpretation of what is going on, but is being documented by national publications and pundits. For example, Business Week (August 17, 2009)...

One interesting part of the Obamacare debate is the number of individuals and organizations publicly endorsing the President's plan against the will (and the best interests) of their constituency. Just one look at the Town Hall meetings, where members of the House and Senate are facing voters frustrated and angry, and very vocally expressing their anger at their representatives for not listening to their objections concerning the Obamacare bills. AARP has also faced the wrath of its members wanting to know how a senior advocacy organization could support a plan which is potentially so dangerous for their membership. Last night...

By embracing ObamaCare, the American Medical Association could set off a civil war among members. James Klemis, an interventional cardiologist who practices in Memphis, was at a lake house on a Saturday earlier this month when he got a text message from a friend about a health care town meeting that evening. He jumped in his car and drove 45 minutes to an inner-city auditorium. There he met up with 15 of his doctor colleagues, who all showed up to give their congressman, Steve Cohen, an earful. "It's a very poorly crafted plan that's being rushed through," Klemis says, who...

Just now on FOX the doctor who's in a tussle with Rep. Scott from GA-13 said at a townhall meeting, where they were on the stage together, that only 29% of doctors in the US are represented by the AMA.

Obama in his Town Hall cited doctor's opting to amputate diabetics rather than counsel weight lose and diet because they pay very little for counseling whereas amputation pays $30,000-$40,000. AMA has issued a statement saying Medicare pays $541-$708. American College of Surgeons echoed the AMA numbers. Charles Krauthammer pointed out that people are losing confidence in the health care proposals when Obama is wrong by a factor of thirty.

A new coalition on Thursday is launching $12 million in television ads to support President Barack Obama’s health-reform plan, in the opening wave of a planned tens of millions of dollars this fall. The new group, funded largely by the pharmaceutical industry, is called Americans for Stable Quality Care. It includes some odd bedfellows: the American Medical Association, FamiliesUSA, the Federation of American Hospitals, PhRMA and SEIU, the service employees’ union. The ads start airing at about 11 a.m. ET Thursday. The group is likely to be the biggest spender in support of health reform. The campaign will serve as...

A follow-up to last night’s post about the looming dangers of mass amputation if ObamaCare doesn’t pass. This is now the second time in three weeks that a doctors’ association has had to correct him publicly over a bit of cheap demagoguery aimed at scaring people into swallowing his plan. Or, rather, the third time: The American College of Surgeons released a statement of its own earlier this evening hammering him on the same points as the AMA. What’s next for The One? Accusing nurses of stealing money out of patients’ wallets while they’re asleep? We agree with President Obama...

SHOCK UNCOVERED: Obama IN HIS OWN WORDS admitting his Health Care Plan will ELIMINATE private insurance OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS HEATH CARE GOAL IS A PUBLIC OPTION THAT WILL ULTIMATELY ELIMINATE PRIVATE EMPLOYER PROVIDED INSURANCE (Obama S.E.I.U. forum on health care 3/24/07, Barney Frank, Jan Schakowsky all admitting a public option will put the private insurance industry out of business)

The American Medical Association has weighed in on the new Obama Health Reform Proposals: The Allergists voted to scratch it, but the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves. The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve. The Obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception. Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted. The Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!" while the Pediatricians said, "Oh, Grow up!" The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it. Surgeons decided to wash...

Rationing: In the recesses of the House health care "reform" bill is a provision for end-of-life counseling for seniors. Don't worry, granny, they're from the government and they're here to help.At a town hall meeting at AARP headquarters in Washington, D.C., President Obama was asked by a woman from North Carolina if it was true "that everyone that's Medicare age will be visited and told they have to decide how they wish to die." At first, the president joked that not enough government workers existed to ask the elderly how they wanted to die. The idea, he said, was to...

Unfortunately I can't find a video of more than the preview; however, I caught a short piece of this panel when the President of the AMA, J. James Rohack stated that one of the only areas of medicine not covered by insurance, Cosmetic Surgery (Plastic Surgery, LASKI, etc.), is one of the only areas where quality/tech are up and costs are down.

Georgia’s many doctors, through their professional organization, the Medical Association of Georgia, have gone on record opposing the horrendous health care “reform” legislation now before the House of Representatives, which is being pushed heavily by President Obama. The MAG is opposing this legislation because it would, if implemented, destroy medicine as we know it in America. Georgia’s doctors understand that, with all its flaws, our health care is of the highest quality and is the most technologically advanced of any country in the world; which is why far more people come to the United States for medical care than leave...

Today I learned that the AMA has issued an “unqualified endorsement” of the House Bill for health insurance overhaul. In my opinion, the AMA has sold out doctors, and most importantly, our patients, in supporting this government take over of our most private and personal freedom – our choices about when, where, and with whom we will have medical care when we are sick. As a protest against their support of the House Health”care” Bill, I have resigned from the AMA after nearly thirty years of membership. Health “care” is a misnomer these days. It is more aptly called health...

The former president of the American Medical Association, Dr. Donald Palmisano, a surgeon, warned that if the Obama administration did not slow down on its drive for a government-led health care overhaul, the treatment choices available to patients would be undercut. He added that the president’s “public option” plan in particular would be a disaster for patients and medical innovation. “When it comes to health system reform: slow down. Patients’ lives are at risk,” Palmisano told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. “Today, in America, we have the best health care system in the world...

TDC asks - Who bought who out? During the recent “PRESCRIPTION FOR AMERICA” Town Hall meeting, American Medical Association President J. James Rohack, asked the following question to Obama: “How are you going to assure the American public that medical decisions will still be between the patient and the physician, and not some bureaucracy that will make decisions on cost and not really what the patient needs?” What exactly was Obama suggesting when he said, “If we’ve got experts who are looking at this and they are advising doctors across the board?” EXPERTS ADVISING DOCTORS? It sounds like these Obama...

During the recent “PRESCRIPTION FOR AMERICA” Town Hall meeting, American Medical Association President J. James Rohack, asked the following question to Obama: “How are you going to assure the American public that medical decisions will still be between the patient and the physician, and not some bureaucracy that will make decisions on cost and not really what the patient needs?” Obama did not answer this question directly, however, when Obama responded to a question about end-of-life care a little later he said: “Well, and that’s a good example of where if we’ve got experts who are looking at this and...

Washingtonosis(n): a disease most often found in people working within three miles of the U.S. Capitol building...Symptoms include an overwhelming desire to associate and be seen with those in power or those perceived to have power and/or fame. Those infected tend to lose judgment, values, principles and sense of honesty as well as common sense. Last week, officials of the American Medical Association (AMA) revealed that they had caught the disease. They endorsed the House version of the health care bill even though it would reduce the incomes of many of their members, restrict their freedom to practice medicine as...

In scanning for a toll free way to call my congress critter, I accidentally found a sweet way to do it: use the AMA's own dime and your zip code to directly call your congress critter. Simply call (800) 833-6354. This is the AMA's own automated grass roots hot line system. It will ask for your zip code, and then via a menu it will automatically directly dial your representative's or senator's office so you can protest the health care bill. Happy dialing --early and often-- on the AMA's own dime!!!

President Obama’s plan for a government takeover of health care is in trouble. Obama ordered up a prime-time last push on Wednesday from his media accomplices, and today will be a big day for them to be ganging up on opponents. Mostly, the targets are Democrats in the House and Senate who are rejecting his so-called public option. Obama has invited a number of wavering Dems to the White House today, planning on arm-twisting sessions aimed at getting their support for the gargantuan -- and unread -- plan to take over the health care of all Americans and add another...