Submitted by Suzanne Jackson, CALPAC Chair 2008
ALLIANCE MEMBERS MAKE A “HOUSE CALL”
The State of California was well represented with the most Alliance representation(14) attending the 2008 AMA/AMA-Alliance National Advocacy Conference (NAC) recently in Washington, DC, March 31 – April 2, 2008. Alliance members from Los Angeles, Fresno-Madera, Orange, San Joaquin, and Santa Clara County attended this two day action packed conference. The AMA NAC coincided with the International Cherry Blossom Festival this year, a far cry from the snow, ice, sleet and cancelled air transportation last year.
The AMA and AMA-Alliance have begun sharing this conference the past two years and the attendance continues to grow. Currently the AMA-Alliance has over 24,000 members nationwide.
During the conference, subjects discussed included medical liability and tort reform, proposed Medicare cuts in reimbursements, scope of practice issues, electronic medical records and electronic prescribing, insurance coverage for the uninsured, insurance portability. Also discussed was the problem of obesity in America, smoking in “G” and “PG” rated movies, anti-trust issues and much more. Speeches from various Senators and Congress members touting their legislation on healthcare, insights from political pundits and campaign strategists. AMA staff and AMPAC lobbyists provided tips on dealing with the media and political leaders . Speakers also covered new strategies, from membership building to fundraising for medical societies and alliances, These were just some of the hot topics covered.
On Wednesday, April 2, the final day of the conference, Alliance members joined physician colleagues, donning white medical coats for a large rally in the Upper Senate Park on Capitol Hill. Various speakers rallied the crowd with personal stories and speeches to encourage sending a strong signal this election year to fix the cuts in Medicare payments to doctors.
Medicare reimbursements do not reflect increases in the medical practice costs, forcing physicians to opt out of the Medicare Program, potentially leaving our country’ s seniors without access to their doctors. Several national and local television crews covered the event interviewing AMA members, before groups marched up the Hill chanting “We Care, Be Fair." Appointments with Congress members and Senators were set up for a “House Call” by CMA staff . In our meetings with local national congress members and Senators, we were joined by CMA physician members .
The opportunity to meet Alliance members from all over the country and having access to top professionals in a variety of field, is one of the exciting benefits of attending this valuable and important conference. Consider joining CALPAC and AMPAC. Help out local county, state and national political action committees fight for good, sound medical legislation both in our State and National Capitols.
Written with Karen O’Connell, CMAA Legislative Trustee
DOCTORS AND ALLIANCE MEMBERS MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD IN SACRAMENTOThis has indeed been a month of political action for the Santa Clara County Medical Association (SCCMA) and Alliance. On April 15th (tax day!) 13 members of the SCCMA and SCCMA-Alliance were joined by members of the Santa Cruz Medical Association at 6:00 AM to board the “Sacramento Express” for the annual CMA Legislation Day. Alliance members included Meg Giberson, SCCMAA Legislative Chair, Jean Casetta, Membership Director, Suzanne Jackson, Past President, Debbi Ricks, CMAA President-elect, and Siggie Stillman, CMAA Past President . The plenary meeting in the Sacramento Convention Center provided reports and talking points by CMA leadership and their Legislative Affairs personnel to all attendees. We were entertained by Richie Ross, who speculated, commented and predicted outcomes of the state budget deliberations, universal health care options and the national Presidential races.
Our luncheon speaker was Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. He affirmed his support of MICRA (Medical Insurance Compensation Act) and outlined his ideas on providing access to affordable health insurance as well as establishing a PPO report card for quality of care. HMO’s have oversight by the Department of Managed Health Care, but insurance companies that cover the majority of insured Californians do not have any overseeing body to review any (perceived)abuses by these insurance companies. He commented on the worse abusers in the state, companies that deny payments after the fact and then cancel those policies, and promoted the ability of buying health insurance from companies from other states.
Poizner stated that the best way to provide affordable quality health insurance would be through free market competition and further stated that with just four or five companies vying for your insurance dollars, they can pick and chose their clients. In fact, the lack of competition has allowed these companies to dictate how health care has to be performed and to whom. Commissioner Poizner also commented on the problems of a government run health insurance program. He conjectured that the access and quality of care could be much worse - alluding to the problems that the state is going through right now with the huge deficit in this years budget and the cuts that are scheduled for providers of MediCAL recipients.
Then as in a déjà vu of our march in Washington DC, Alliance members and doctors donned their white coats and marched on the Capitol shouting “Stop the Cuts” followed by visits to our local state legislators on the behalf of medicine. These trips are an eye opening experience and aid in making and reinforcing medicine's concerns with that access to quality health care in our communities. Please consider joining our legislative team next year for a day of education, camaraderie and political action on a very personal sense.
CMA is outraged that some Senators chose to block the bill. Such cuts will force physicians to make difficult choices about limiting the number of Medicare and TriCare patients they can accept, which will further exacerbate the access to care problems in California. There are more than 5 million Medicare and Military TriCare patients in California, many of whom are already reporting difficulty finding a doctor.
President Bush continues to threaten to veto any Medicare physician payment fix that is financed by reforming Medicare Advantage. It is unclear whether seven more Republicans will buck their party and the powerful insurance industry to achieve a veto-proof margin. However, given the recent overwhelming vote in the House, many believe it is possible.
If President Bush vetoes the bill, as he is expected to, it will go back to the House and Senate for veto override votes. Although California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are firmly on the side of doctors and their patients, physicians must keep the pressure on California’s House Republicans, particularly those who voted no on HR 6331, so that we can maintain the two-thirds margin necessary to override a presidential veto. (Voting no: Reps Doolittle, Lungren, Herger, Nunes, Radanovich, Royce and Campbell.)
Physicians should also call Senators Feinstein and Boxer and the members of Congress who voted yes and thank them for protecting seniors’ access to doctors.
Call AMA’s grassroots hotline at 800/833-6354 to be connected with your members of Congress.