President Obama touched on a bevy of health care issues ranging from preventive medicine reform to embracing new technology to shifting the mindset of doctors from money grubbers to actual service providers. For current AMA President Nancy Nielsen, M.D., concern over the buzz that Obama might receive a less than favorable reception faded as soon as he walked into the ballroom of Chicago’s Hyatt Regency.
“Like the president, the AMA is committed to covering all Americans through health reform this year”, Nielsen said. “We had a wonderful reception [and] as you heard from the audience the president was very warmly received”.
That warm feeling took a step backward when President Obama stressed his opposition to making doctor liability and malpractice lawsuits a priority. President Obama expressed the need to explore options in the legal arena and AMA leaders praised him for doing so.
“What we’re very pleased about is [Obama] being very open to considering options that would lower the cost of defensive medicine”, Nielsen said. “He acknowledged that it’s an issue and he put it in the context of the overall rising unsustainable and crippling healthcare cost. He has not taken that off the table and in fact, as I said, he’s the first to put it on the table and that’s what we were really pleased about.”
AMA President-Elect, J. James Rohack, M.D., echoed the sentiments of his predecessor.
“As Nancy has highlighted, the goal of the president and the AMA is to make sure that all Americans have affordable health insurance,” Rohack said. “We’re also excited with the president signaling the importance of investment in prevention because as we discussed with the president … that even if we do health system reform — the disease burden is coming down road. We have to put [in] the proper investment to prevent diseases. So, we’re excited about working with the president.”
gavin philip godfrey
