Organized Medicine and The Affordable Care Act
Thursday
Daniel Henninger, editorial writer for The
Wall Street Journal wrote that doctors will be the losers with the
Affordable Care Act. Further, “The Affordable Care Act will damage
that most crucial of all life relationships, that between an ill person and his
physician.”
Hold on, Dan; not so fast.
Sure the Act is imperfect. But if
it is so deleterious to that crucial relationship, why is it that major medical
societies have applauded the Supreme Court’s ruling?
Here’s a sampling of opinions by some of the nation’s top
physician organizations:
Robert
Block, MD, president of The American
Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), said in a statement:
“Today, the Supreme Court upheld
a law that invests in children’s health from the ground up.”
“The Academy endorsed the
Affordable Care Act because it addresses the same ‘A-B-C’ goals that are
entrenched in our mission and in our 82 years of child health Advocacy:
providing all children in this country with access to health care
services, age-appropriate Benefits to meet their unique needs, and high-quality,
affordable health care Coverage.”
Notes the American College of Physicians:
“The Supreme Court’s decision to
uphold the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in its entirety is a victory for improving
health care for all Americans.”
“While the American College of
Physicians (ACP) did not take a position on the constitutional issues before
the court, we believe that the individual insurance mandate, combined with the
ACA’s subsidies to buy qualified coverage through state marketplaces
(exchanges), Medicaid expansion to more low-income persons, and consumer
protections against insurance practices that deny or limit coverage, are the
most effective ways to expand coverage to nearly all Americans. We are pleased
that the Supreme Court’s ruling resolves the legal questions so that these and
other reforms can go forward.
The American College of Cardiology’s
president William Zoghbi, MD, wade in:
“Now that the long-awaited Supreme Court
decision on the Affordable Care Act is behind us, we can continue down the path
to health care reform… “The ACC favors provisions in the law that support
preventive care, access to care, elimination of waste, and a payment system
that encourages quality. Hard work remains ahead before we arrive at a
sustainable payment system that emphasizes value and a strong patient-doctor
relationship.”
Said
the American Academy of Family
Physicians:
“By upholding the Affordable Care Act, the
Supreme Court has ensured that Americans have access to affordable, sustainable
health care coverage and that they receive high quality, coordinated and
efficient care based on primary care. It is a future that family physicians
happily anticipate.”
Women’s doctors also gave thumbs
up:
“The American Congress of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) applauds the US Supreme Court’s ruling
today that affirms the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (ACA)… “The Affordable Care Act helps ensure all Americans
have access to affordable coverage with important consumer protections and
benefits, including comprehensive maternity coverage and well-woman care,” said ACOG President James
T. Breeden, MD. “We urge all states to
act swiftly to implement these important access and coverage guarantees.”
The American Medical Association, which long ago fought tooth and
nail again Medicare, also added its stamp of approval to the ACA:
“This decision protects important
improvements, such as ending coverage denials due to pre-existing conditions
and lifetime caps on insurance, and allowing the 2.5 million young adults up to
age 26 who gained coverage under the law to stay on their parents' health
insurance policies. The expanded health care coverage upheld by the
Supreme Court will allow patients to see their doctors earlier rather than
waiting for treatment until they are sicker and care is more expensive. The
decision upholds funding for important research on the effectiveness of drugs
and treatments and protects expanded coverage for prevention and wellness care,
which has already benefited about 54 million Americans.
It
would have been useful if organized medicine had been more vocal over the past
two years when willful misinformation about the ACA was as common as smog. But at least now they are affirming their support. Better late than never.
Michael
Durand
