AMA committee fails to find consensus on proposed changes to Medicare

At the annual AMA House of Delegates meeting in Chicago, there was no agreement on whether the doctors' group should endorse a premium-support apporach to Medicare.

Modern Healthcare: At AMA Meeting, No Consensus On Premium-Support Issue
After an hour of debate on the subject of whether the American Medical Association should endorse transitioning Medicare to a premium-support system, there were plenty of witty lines, heartfelt pleadings, historical points of reference and dueling points of view from two former AMA presidents-;but no consensus on the issue.  ... The issue will be brought up again for a vote by the entire house sometime before the meeting concludes on Wednesday (Robeznieks, 6/15).

Chicago Tribune: AMA Wants Higher Medicare Payments
Days before the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the biggest overhaul of federal health care law in five decades, the nation's most powerful group of physicians said Saturday it may push for major changes -; should the reforms land again in the hands of Congress (Frost, 6/17).

MedPage Today: AMA Makes Small Gain In Membership
[The AMA] added 1,636 new members to its ranks in 2011, ending a 2 year hemorrhage of members following the group's support of President Obama's healthcare reform. Unknown, however, is how many of those new members are practicing physicians, who pay $420 to join the AMA, and how many are students, who pay just $20. ... The gain in members, a growth of less than 1%, brings the AMA's membership to 217,490, a number that supports the group's claim to be medicine's "big tent" (Walker, 6/17).