with all the misinformation emanating from the reichwing, teabagger trolls, faux news, various and sundry RATpublicans, and blue dog democRATs, one might easily draw the conclusion that doctors, as a group, are opposed to any such plan…au contraire mon ami…chances are about 3:1 that they support it.
details below the fold…
lost in the overheated rhetoric is the latest finding from a poll conducted in june through early september that found
…”nearly three-quarters of physicians supported some form of a public option, either alone or in combination with private insurance options,”…
a far cry from the official position of the AMA that they
…support health care reform alternatives that are “consistent with AMA principles,” which include freedom to choose health insurance and universal access for patients. But they didn’t specifically support a plan for public health insurance…
a rather milquetoast position that is seriously undermined by the poll, which shows the following sentiment:
Doctors’ Support For Public Option ‘Broad And Widespread’
The researchers say they found strong support for a public option among all categories of doctors. “We even saw that support being the same whether physicians lived in rural areas or metropolitan areas,” says Federman.
“Whether they lived in southern regions of the United States or traditionally liberal parts of the country,” says Keyhani, “we found that physicians, regardless — whether they were salaried or they were practice owners, regardless of whether they were specialists or primary care providers, regardless of where they lived — the support for the public option was broad and widespread.”
…
The survey even found widespread support for a public option among doctors who are members of the American Medical Association, a group that’s opposed to it. The AMA fears a public option eventually could lead to government putting more limits on doctors’ fees.
it should be noted, as it is in the article, that less than 1/3 of practicing physicians are AMA members, ergo, it is not the monolithic organization that many people assume.
