The A.M.A., with about 250,000 members, is recognized as America’s largest physician organization. You doctor probably belongs to the American Medical Association. This group agrees with other analysts that a large government run program would push private insurers out, restrict choice and increase costs. From the New York Times:
...the American Medical Association said: “The A.M.A. does not believe that creating a public health insurance option for non-disabled individuals under age 65 is the best way to expand health insurance coverage and lower costs. The introduction of a new public plan threatens to restrict patient choice by driving out private insurers, which currently provide coverage for nearly 70 percent of Americans.”
If private insurers are pushed out of the market, the group said, “the corresponding surge in public plan participation would likely lead to an explosion of costs that would need to be absorbed by taxpayers.”
