One reason the AMA got in bed with the enemy on ”reform” was a commitment from the Obama administration and its congressional co-conspirators to repeal SGR, Medicare’s Soviet-style physician payment system.
In fact, to keep the AMAÂ compliant during the run-up to the final House vote on Obamacare, Kathleen Sebelius explicitly promised to pursue repeal. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the midterm elections:
Democrats on Wednesday reiterated their support for a repeal, but view that as too expensive an option right now, given the $1.3 trillion budget deficit.
So, the Democrats are going to kick the problem down the road. How far down the road are they going to kick it? Well, perhaps for five years (which would cost more than $88 billion), but maybe not:
House Democrats had talked about including a five-year fix in the tax extenders bill … But sources on and off Capitol Hill now say the expensive package the House wants will not survive in the Senate.
Needless to say, the cheap dates of the AMA are none too happy. They claim they’ll support nothing short full repeal. What these dopes don’t seem to realize is that the Democrats don’t need them now:
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said the AMA’s stance makes it more likely that only a short-term fix gets passed. ‘If the doctors don’t support what we’re trying to do for them, then let’s not do it.’
As your grandmother might have put it, Obama & Co. already got the milk. Now, they have no reason to buy the cow. Nonetheless, the Dems will probably put in a fix that will expire just after the next presidential election.
They will not, however, respect the AMA in the morning.
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