Crain's Nov 2, 2009 Paul Merrion
State doc group fighting health care bills By Paul Merrion Nov. 02, 2009 (Crain’s) — The largest physicians’ group in Illinois, in a break with the American Medical Assn. on health care reform, is writing letters to Congress and running full-page ads in major newspapers across the state opposing legislation nearing critical House and Senate votes. “Our physician members are very concerned health reform is moving in the wrong direction,” the Illinois State Medical Society wrote in an “open letter to Illinois patients” posted on its Web site last week. Like the AMA, the Illinois State Medical Society has expressed general support for health care reform while underscoring several things it wanted to see in the bill. The AMA supported an earlier House version of the bill but it hasn’t taken a position on the leading Senate bill or the revised House bill that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., hopes to bring to a vote this week or next. However, shortly after the House leadership’s bill came out, the Illinois State Medical Society declared that “we cannot support the direction of current proposals before Congress.” Doctors nationwide are upset that Congress has failed in recent weeks to pass separate legislation that would permanently repeal a scheduled 21.5% reduction next year in Medicare reimbursement payments. Republicans oppose a Democratic plan to handle the issue separately that would otherwise add almost $250 billion to the cost of health care reform. The Medicare reductions were enacted as a budget-cutting measure several years ago but have been repeatedly postponed by Congress. The Illinois State Medical Society’s letter also said it opposes a government-run health plan or “public option” and further expansion of Medicaid to cover the uninsured. Representatives of the AMA and Illinois State Medical Society were not immediately available for comment. | 