AMA Says American Health Care Act Is Critically Flawed
In a letter to congressional leaders, the
"The AMA supported health system reform legislation in 2010 because it was a significant improvement on the status quo at the time; and although it was imperfect, we continue to embrace its primary goal - making high-quality, affordable health coverage accessible to all Americans," AMA President
In January, the AMA released its health system reform objectives - primary among them that people who currently have insurance should not become uninsured - and were shared at the time with Members of
In today's letter to congressional leaders, the AMA outlined several provisions within the
* The AMA has long supported advanceable, refundable tax credits as a preferred method for assisting individuals in obtaining private health coverage. It is important, however, that available credits be sufficient for quality coverage. The AMA is concerned that by relating credits to age - rather than inversely related to income - the
* The AMA is concerned with the proposed rollback of
* The AMA cannot support provisions of the legislation that repeal the
* The AMA does not support provisions targeting, in this specific case, affiliates of the
"As you consider this legislation over the coming days and weeks, we hope that you will keep upmost in your mind the potentially life altering impact your decisions will have on millions of Americans who may see their public, individual or even employer-provided health care coverage changed or eliminated," the AMA said in its letter. "We encourage you to ensure that low and moderate income Americans will be able to secure affordable and adequate coverage and that
Below is the text of the letter:
The Honorable
Chairman
1102 Longworth HOB
The Honorable
Chairman
2125 Rayburn HOB
The Honorable
Ranking Member
1139E Longworth HOB
The Honorable
Ranking Member
2322A Rayburn HOB
On behalf of the
More than 20 million Americans currently have health care coverage due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and among the AMA's highest priorities for on-going health system reform efforts is to ensure that these individuals maintain that coverage. While we agree that there are problems with the ACA that must be addressed, we cannot support the
The AMA has long supported advanceable, refundable tax credits as a preferred method for assisting individuals in obtaining private health care coverage. It is important, however, that the amount of credits available to individuals be sufficient to enable one to afford quality coverage. We believe that credits should be inversely related to an individual's income. This structure provides the greatest chance that those of the least means are able to purchase coverage. We believe credits inversely related to income, rather than age as proposed in the committee's legislation, not only result in greater numbers of people insured but are a more efficient use of tax-payer resources.
AMA policy also supports increased flexibility in the
In addition to the concerns listed above, the AMA cannot support provisions that repeal the
As you consider this legislation over the coming days and weeks, we hope that you will keep upmost in your mind the potentially life altering impact your decisions will have on millions of Americans who may see their public, individual or even employer-provided health care coverage changed or eliminated. We encourage you to ensure that low and moderate income Americans will be able to secure affordable and adequate coverage and that
Sincerely,
[Category: Medical]
07M-Furigay-5799246 07M-Furigay
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