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The nation's largest doctors group came out Thursday in support of health care reform legislation scheduled for a House vote Saturday, when scores of member physicians will gather in Houston for a policymaking meeting and debate that contentious issue.

Dr. James Rohack, the Temple cardiologist who heads the 250,000-member American Medical Association, said the bill isn't perfect but goes a long way toward expanding access to health coverage and making the system better. He said it must be passed with a companion bill that averts a 21 percent cut to Medicare reimbursement. Democratic leaders said Thursday they now have the 218 votes necessary to pass the legislation when it reaches the House floor Saturday. The reform bill, which would cost $1.2 trillion and cover 96 percent of Americans, also gained the support of the AARP on Thursday. Rohack said the AMA's support is not the same as an endorsement, which he defined as 100 percent agreement. He said the AMA will continue to work to improve the legislation, with additional direction likely coming at the four-day meeting in Houston.

Delegates in attendance will vote on a variety of resolutions Monday and Tuesday. The resolutions include calls for the organization to back off its support.  Such dissent also surfaced Thursday when two Texas doctors briefly hijacked an AMA telebriefing announcing the organization's stance to news media. The doctors, one of whom identified himself as a member of the Texas Medical Association, expressed skepticism that the AMA will prevail on such issues as tort reform and Medicare reimbursement. Rohack became impatient with the interventions, finally dismissing Paul Handel, the TMA member, with the retort that “as medical director of the Healthcare Services Corporation of America, I am sure you are going to be able to address that from the insurance side.” Handel, who now lives in Illinois but still serves on the TMA board, later told the Houston Chronicle he didn't know the phone call was a press event. But he stood by his complaint, asking why anything “will be different now, inasmuch as Congress hasn't been able to provide adequate Medicare reimbursement for 45 years.”

TMA President William Fleming was quick to note that he  not Handel speaks for the TMA. The Texas association has taken no position on the House or Senate legislation. Fleming said the House bill has “good things and bad things. We want to support what's good and fix what's bad.” The AMA and the TMA are guided by a set of principles they want in reform. Rohack said the House bill meets most but not all of them. The TMA released a statement Thursday afternoon applauding Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, for his amendment that would protect tort reform in Texas. The AMA also took a shot from Sen. John Cornyn, R- Texas, who's been involved in a feud of sorts with the group.  “The Pelosi bill not only fails to include common-sense medical liability reform for physicians, but it includes a new government program that will have all the same problems we've seen with Medicare.” Cornyn last week told the Associated Press that “I can't think of a more ineffective organization when it comes to dealing with Congress” than the AMA.

Source: The Houston Chronicle

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