AMA Resolutions: Doctors’ opinions on insurance companies, electronic cigarettes and more
by Leigh Ann Otte, managing editor
The American Medical Association held their annual meeting this week. Obama’s speech there grabbed the headlines, but AMA members also voted on some interesting resolutions. You may be surprised at some of the topics. But first, some …
AMA FAQs
How many practicing doctors belong to the AMA?
Probably less than a third.
Who votes in the AMA meeting?
Delegates from 180 medical societies.
What’s the significance of the AMA resolutions?
They set the AMA’s agenda. Many of the resolutions, for example, direct the organization to lobby Congress for action.
And now for some AMA resolution highlights
The voting AMA members say …
- People who get a Medicare card should be required to sign a living will.
- You should be able to sue your insurance company if they refuse you a needed test and you’re harmed as a result.
- Congress should ban pharmacies from selling tobacco.
- They don’t like guns on TV and in the movies: AMA doctors firmly (?) instructed their AMA to talk to the Council on Science and Public Health about whether they could and should embark on a multi-media campaign about this subject. So there.
- Nutrition and calorie information may be coming to a restaurant menu near you. They want to “create a method” to display such things.
- They endorse teaching evolution “as an integral part of science education.”
- They like the idea of mandatory HIV testing for women in labor who haven’t been tested yet during that pregnancy.
- Everybody needs to know that depression is “a significant risk factor” for heart disease–and increases your risk of death if you already have heart disease.
- Electronic cigarettes may or may not be good to help you quit. Stay tuned; they’ll study and report at the 2010 meeting.
What do you think of these resolutions? Do you agree?
Coming Monday: resolution awards! We highlight some of the most interesting resolutions in various categories. Stay tuned (and get the blog delivered via e-mail so you don’t miss a thing! See the box in the upper right-hand corner).
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As with all information on this site, this article cannot replace professional, personal medical advice. Read more here.
Tags: AMA
June 19th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Wow. Seems like they like to force a lot on people. Mandate this…ban that. Paternalism is still the name of the game in organized medicine. With fewer than 1/3 of doctors belonging to the organization, they sure seem to think they still have a lot of power. Well, I guess they do. They probably shouldn’t.
June 19th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Thanks for the comment, Ann. Yes, there is some mumbling about the very points you bring up–particularly whether the AMA is as influential as people might think. You might be interested in these articles.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105393162
http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/2009/06/how-relevant-is-the-american-medical-association.html
But then again, this NYT article says, “While not the political behemoth it once was, the association probably has more influence than any other group in the health care industry.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/us/politics/11health.html?_r=2
It is, after all, the largest physician group in the country.
Thanks again for the thoughtful comment.
Leigh Ann Otte
Managing Editor
My Family Doctor
Written by health-care providers for you.
June 19th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
[...] AMA to study e-cig The AMA doesn’t have a firm position on e-cigs (that’s good) and whether they help quitting efforts (that’s bad), but will study them for a year (assuming the FDA doesn’t ban them first). James Hubbard
June 22nd, 2009 at 12:02 am
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June 22nd, 2009 at 10:47 am
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