At its 2006 annual meeting, the American Medical Association (AMA) voted to support a “requirement” for Americans to obtain health insurance, using tax laws to enforce the mandate. David McKalip, M.D., who attended the meeting in June, notes that support for the insurance mandate was overwhelming. His comments on the meeting were published in the fall issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.
The AMA reported it “voted to support a requirement that individuals and families earning greater than 500 percent of the federal poverty level obtain, at a minimum, coverage for catastrophic health care and evidence-based preventive health care, using the tax structure to achieve compliance. [Emphasis added.] Upon implementation of a system of refundable tax credits or other subsidies to obtain health care coverage, this requirement would apply to individuals and families earning less than 500 percent of the federal poverty level.”
The organization also “resolved that comprehensive health system reform, which achieves access to quality health care for all Americans while improving the physician practice environment, be of the highest priority for our AMA….”
Dr. McKalip said he hoped the AMA would wait and see how “the great social experiment” (mandatory medical-insurance law) in Massachusetts plays out before embracing mandatory insurance. Other physician organizations and patient groups still have the opportunity to encourage a wait-and-see policy before endorsing the requirement in other states.
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