Free Republic

THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG THE BLOG TUESDAY, AUGUST 4TH, 2009 AT 6:55 AM Facts Are Stubborn Things Posted by Macon Phillips Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, "facts are stubborn things." Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to "uncover" the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions. In this video, Linda Douglass, the communications director for the White House’s Health Reform Office, addresses one example that makes it look like the President intends to...

March 21, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Concerns over the new health care law’s system for rationing health care - famously dubbed the “death panels� by Sarah Palin - have been reinforced by a former head of the American Medical Association, who said the advisory panels “will essentially mean rationed care� for the elderly. Former AMA President Donald Palmisano wrote in a Daily Caller column Monday that the Independent Payment Advisory Boards (IPAB), tasked with keeping Medicare expenses under control, would have little oversight as they deal with the disproportionate cost burden from seniors with greater medical needs. “The 15 officials who...

In fact, the AMA now only counts about 17% of doctors as members. According to a new survey, the majority of doctors do not believe that the AMA represents their views and interests. Much of that dissatisfaction stems from the organization's support for President Obama’s contentious health care reform package. That shouldn't be surprising. The AMA declares that its core mission is to "help doctors help patients." But ObamaCare undermines that pursuit by making life harder for physicians and driving down the quality of care available to patients. The survey - conducted by physician recruitment firm Jackson & Coker -...

New research demonstrates that a diet based around plants, nuts and high-fiber grains lowered "bad" cholesterol more than a low-saturated-fat diet that was also vegetarian, meaning that one's dietary changes could be an alternative to statin medications for many people saving persons from some devastating side effects of the medications. After six months, people on the low-saturated-fat diet saw a drop in LDL cholesterol of 8 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), on average, according to findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (excerpted)

Tokyo (CNN) -- Japan's Mount Shinmoe erupted again on Wednesday, spewing more lava, smoke and ash through the area, the country's meteorological agency said. The volcano erupted twice on Wednesday, at 5:25 a.m. and 10:47 a.m., Japan's Meteorological Agency said. Since January 26 when it broke its decades-long slumber, the volcano has erupted seven times, the agency said. For many outside Japan, Mount Shinmoe is known for its role in the 1967 James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice," where it served as the lair for the villain, Ernst Blofeld. In the nearby town of Takaharu, ash blanketed cars, houses...

Pilot duped AMA with fake M.D. claim Article updated: 12/12/2010 07:08 PM AP EXCLUSIVE: MILWAUKEE (AP) — He seemed like Superman, able to guide jumbo jets through perilous skies and tiny tubes through blocked arteries. As a cardiologist and United Airlines captain, William Hamman taught doctors and pilots ways to keep hearts and planes from crashing. He shared millions in grants, had university and hospital posts, and bragged of work for prestigious medical groups. An Associated Press story featured him leading a teamwork training session at an American College of Cardiology convention last spring. But it turns out Hamman isn't...

My Medicare patients -- and those who'll soon qualify -- are worried. Will the doctors they're used to seeing still be able to take care of them when big cuts in Medicare payments are constantly hanging overhead? Even if I keep seeing a particular patient, I don't know that I'll still be able to find specialists to examine his skin, perform his stress test, operate on his hip or remove his cataract. Medicare reimbursement to me for an average primary-care visit has remained around $50 for the past decade, even as my office expenses have skyrocketed. Cataract and hip-replacement operations...

Docs 4 Patient Care: National Organization Believes Doctors & Patients Best Qualified To Make Health Care Decisions, Not Government Bureaucrats: Repeal ObamaCare Quickly growing association of highly respected physicians believe Health Care Reform Bill was intentionally designed to fail: The purpose of the legislation (Health Care Reform Law) will eventually be used to promote a one-size fits all single-payer system which will drastically decrease the efficiency of the greatest health care system in the world. Although most Americans opposed the passage of President Barack Obama's health care reform law, the bill was rammed down the throats of the public--with the...

A proposed special-interest tax break for plaintiffs' lawyers would add billions of dollars in federal spending and jack up costs to consumers. It's nothing more than a direct subsidy from taxpayers to ambulance chasers. That was the message of a strongly worded letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner from the American Medical Association, 42 national medical groups representing specialties such as radiology, cardiology and gastroenterology, and the medical associations of 47 states and the District of Columbia. The Treasury is considering an administrative ruling - as an end run around Congress - that would allow trial lawyers to take...

Months after delivering its crucial endorsement of the health care overhaul, the American Medical Association has found itself with fewer friends on Capitol Hill and more critics questioning its lobbying savvy. Its troubles couldn’t come at a worse time: It is more dependent than ever on having allies in Congress, thanks to the growing number of Medicare patients. The AMA’s most prominent lobbying failure has been its inability to repeal the obsolete formula governing payments for Medicare patients — a method that has for years required regular temporary “fixes” to avoid big pay cuts for doctors. Determined to win repeal,...

Docs4PatientCare began as a grassroots movement led by a prominent physician in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Hal Scherz,who felt he must act in response to the AMA's support of Obamacare. Attempting to enact his big-government health care scheme, President Obama and his supporters frequently claimed that a “majority” of doctors supported his health-care plans. When the American Medical Association – which had opposed HillaryCare – signed onto Obama’s plan last year, the organization seemed to make the President’s case. Most people assumed that the AMA represented most of the doctors in the country. But in fact, the AMA represents less than...

Nine times in the past eight years, Congress has, at the last second, delayed the automatic cuts in doctors’ Medicare fees that it decreed some 13 years ago to prevent Medicare spending from outpacing other consumer expenditures. The AMA threatens that doctors, especially primary care doctors, will stop accepting Medicare patients if the cuts go through. Congress hurtles toward the head-on collision, citing runaway budget problems. Doctors are kept in suspense, their claims held in abeyance while carriers wait for Congress to fix the problem retroactively if it has missed its deadline. The AMA claims credit when the wreck is...

A six-month stay on Medicare cuts cleared the Senate Friday but too late to avert what will be still a claims processing nightmare for physicians faced with a 21 percent reduction in their reimbursements. With the House gone for the weekend, no final resolution is possible before next week, and the Senate itself only acted hours after the deadline set by Medicare administrators. The payment cut will be eliminated and a 2.2 percent raise will be applied to Medicare reimbursements through Nov. 30. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and ranking Republican Charles E. Grassley came up with the deal...

The American Medical Association (AMA) is putting the doctors of America on notice. A major cheerleader for ObamaCare, the organization is now trying to silence doctors who oppose it. It is time the American people understood what the AMA is really all about.

A top House Republican is investigating the legislative deals the White House and Democratic leadership cut with special interest groups while crafting the new health care reform law. And California Rep. Darrell Issa is not happy with the American Medical Association’s terse response to his questions. Issa, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee, sent letters to five special interest groups, most of which supported reform and cut deals with the Democrats. “Contrary to the president’s oft-stated goal of transparency, the rank-and-file members of the Democratic Caucus and the entire Republican Conference have not had the opportunity to participate...

...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.

"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...