By Jeffrey Young, huffingtonpost.com
The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest doctors’ group, opposes the Senate health care bill, the organization announced in a letter to Senate leaders Monday.
“Medicine has long operated under the precept of Primum non nocere, or ‘first, do no harm.’ The draft legislation violates that standard on many levels,” American Medical Association CEO James Madara wrote to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
The American Medical Association is the latest health care sector group to express opposition to, or at least serious concerns with, the Senate bill, known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act. McConnell unveiled the bill Thursday and aims to bring it to the Senate floor for a final vote as soon as this week. With 52 Republicans in the Senate, McConnell can only lose two GOP votes if he wants to get the 50 needed to advance the bill. Five Republican senators, however, are already on record against it.
The physicians’ lobbying organization cites numerous problems with the Senate GOP bill, starting with its likely effect of causing many millions of currently insured Americans to lose their health coverage and be unable to afford medical treatments.
Read more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/american-medical-association-senate-health-care-bill_us_59514933e4b02734df2c5070
