The American Medical Association has voted against an amendment that would have dropped their long opposition to single-payer healthcare.
Representatives from the nation’s largest doctors organization voted 53-47% against stopping their criticism of Medicare for all, according to a report from The Hill.
“The AMA is part of a coalition of insurers, drug companies and hospital groups aggressively lobbying against Medicare for all proposals in Congress,” the Hill report says. “But Tuesday’s vote shows that AMA’s members are not united on the group’s opposition to single-payer.”
Protesters who support single-payer healthcare had gathered outside the Blue Cross/Blue Shield headquarters in Chicago over the weekend, where the group was holding their annual meeting.
“The AMA is absolutely in favor of having every American have health care that needs to be of good quality and affordable,” AMA President Dr. Barbara McAneny said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. “We just aren’t certain that Medicare for All is the right vehicle.”
The group currently supports the Affordable Care Act.
“But the association believes choice in health care is a better way to go than Medicare for All. McAneny worries about what might happen to a government-run health care system during government shutdowns and about whether it would pay enough to sustain medical care. Now, government health insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid tend to reimburse doctors less than private insurers,” the Tribune reported.
