AMA Favors Incremental Steps To Health Care Access

After a meeting in Hawaii, the American Medical Association's house of delegates has voted in favor of incremental steps to increase access to health care, rather than supporting more health care reform plan ambitions along the Clinton line. Previously, the association had said that any national health plan must achieve universal coverage with a standard set of comprehensive benefits for all Americans.

AMA executive vice president James Todd said the organization's goal of universal coverage has not changed, but rather that it should be achieved in an incremental fashion. An AMA spokesman said the change in policy reflected an acceptance of reality by doctors, based on the mood of the public that also favors moving slowly. The policy statement noted that there is a deep sentiment against comprehensive federal legislative action, with many preferring to see what marketplace pressures and state action can accomplish.

Health Saving Accounts It also called for Congress to approve tax breaks to encourage private savings to pay for medical care, with consumers able to set up medical savings accounts as an alternative to commercial insurance. The AMA also drafted legislation to help doctors set up health care networks to compete with insurance companies and Health Maintenance Organizations, with doctors being exempted from many federal and state antitrust laws, securities acts and fraud and abuse laws.