AMA Plan Would Expand Current 'Dysfunctional' Health Care System, Opinion Piece States

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 29 Aug 2007 - 17:00 PST

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The American Medical Association "says it's going to spend millions of dollars to highlight the plight of the uninsured in general -- and the organization's own remedies in particular," but what the organization "isn't saying is that its plan would steer about 47 million people into the health insurance industry's most expensive form of coverage" and would "probably leave taxpayers holding the bag," columnist David Lazarus writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece (Lazarus, Los Angeles Times, 8/26).

Last week, AMA launched "Voice for the Uninsured," a three-year, multimillion-dollar advertising campaign intended to influence the health care debate in the 2008 election and promote its plan for providing health coverage for the uninsured (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/24).

AMA's plan "would maintain the current employer-based insurance system that covers most working families but is a growing headache for U.S. businesses," Lazarus writes, adding, "Meanwhile, the AMA plan would extend tax credits to uninsured people that could be used to purchase coverage in the individual insurance market." He says the problem is that tax credits "in effect represent a government subsidy for purchasing insurance. That money would have to come from somewhere: higher taxes most likely, or funds cut from other federal programs."

Lazarus continues, "Whatever else, the AMA is to be commended for attempting to raise the political profile of the uninsured and for seeking to make this a priority issue for presidential candidates." However, he adds that "if your goal is universal coverage, expanding our dysfunctional system isn't the answer. In fact, it might only make things worse over the long run" (Los Angeles Times, 8/26).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.