What is the American Medical Association for? The group claims, in public-relations-ese, that its function is “to promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health.”
But ask a doctor. You are apt to get a very different diagnosis.
The September 2011 survey of “Physicians Opinions About the American Medical Association,” published by Jackson & Coker, a physician recruitment firm, makes that very clear. Here are a few highlights:
- “The AMA’s Stance and Actions Represent My Views”: 77 percent of doctors disagree.
- “I agree with the AMA’s Position on Health Reform”: 70 percent disagree.
- . . . effectively supports “physician practice autonomy”: 69 percent disagree.
- . . . effectively insulates “physicians from intrusive government regulations”: 78 percent disagree.
- . . . “protects physicians from insurance company abuses”: 75 percent disagree.
Those percentages include non-member and non-practicing doctors. Understandably, members of the AMA are more positive than non-members. But even among member doctors, a majority disapproves of the AMA’s insurance protection (the last bullet point, above).
The AMA carries a lot of weight in public policy debate. Unfortunately, its history of lobbying government has been very . . . “progressive,” paternalistic, and heavy-handed.
For example, before the AMA dominated American national medical policy, doctors routinely engaged in extensive pro bono work for the poor. The AMA worked mightily to stop that.
The result of this prescription? Medicare, Medicaid . . . and an insolvent entitlement system.
Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
6 replies on “A Membership Group vs. Its Members”
Although I am an Osteopthic Physician, I hold the same view that the AMA does not at all represent the interests of physicains or their patients. One would think it would be hard to find other organiztions that are as useless and even harmful to their members but you don’t have too look far. The AOA, the comparable organization for Osteopathic physician is much worse when it comes to representing the best interests of its members. I have chosen not to be a member of either.
Another even larger organization that is clearly not repressenting its members and even doing outragious harm to them is AARP (the American Association of Retired Persons who sold out their membership for personal profit in the health care reform.
The AMA is to doctors what the AARP is to old folks and the NAACP is to blacks. It is a leftover organization with its own political goals that have little to do with those that it purports to represent.
All of them have have had many of their stated goals taken over by folks with a leftward bent. They are promoting the status quo and themselves.
Good points. Let’s add the NEA to the list. The NEA has a very big gov’t agenda far beyond simply wanting to suck every penny out of every American’s wallet for education. And one NOT shared by many teachers they claim to represent.
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You are correct, Sir. And it’s no stretch at all to add the Teamsters to that list.
LET US NOT FORGET THE LARGEST–OUR GOVERNMENTS.
DOES ANYONE SERIOUSLY THINK THAT OUR “ELECTED” “REPRESENTIVES” TRULY REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THSOE THAT THEY SUPPOSEDLY REPRESENT?