AMA says "Whoa" to FedGov? ::: IBD: Doctors Fight Back

The largest group of doctors in the country has made it clear that it is not comfortable with legislation that would twist the country's health care system into a Euro-style scheme that "threatens to restrict patient choice."

With 250,000 members, the American Medical Association has some heavy political clout and deep resources. It will need to use everything it has if it is to help shield the nation from a health care disaster being engineered by Democrats and their constituents.

Washington's latest fevered dream for health care is a mutation called the "public option," which is just another way of saying "government-run" without having to actually do so.

In this system, the federal government would offer medical insurance, subsidized by the taxpayers, in competition with the private insurance industry.

Program advocates say it would bring down costs, since an enormous federal program could cut reimbursement rates for providers and deliver coverage for the uninsured. Some supporters gloatingly admit they believe the public option will eventually eliminate the private insurance market, leaving government to operate a single-payer system — which is their ultimate goal.

We know there's a loud faction that envies the salaries doctors earn. Its members would be pleased to see the government slash reimbursements for wealthy physicians.

We also know something else that they apparently don't: Without the profit motive, doctors will leave their practices, potential medical school students will choose another field, and insurance providers will stop offering coverage. Is that in anyone's interest?

While these same folks would be thrilled to put an end to private health care insurance, which they believe is run by greedy businessmen, they'd not be so happy with a health care landscape in which there are fewer doctors, fewer hospitals and fewer choices.

That's the sure result, though, if government takes over health care and pays miserly fees for doctors' services.

Why would anyone go through the rigors of medical school, build a mountain of debt with student loans, and endure years of a demanding internship only to work for low pay in a system in which a meddling government stands between the doctor and his patient?

A nation with fewer physicians and little or no private health insurance market is a nation that will find itself in health care hell.

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