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Doctors' lobby losing clout on Hill...It's about time
From: Bluerhymer@aol.com (Raymond)
Tags:Chuck Grassley, Health Care Reform, Lobbyists, American Medical
Association, Michael Burgess Listen Print Comment Email Subscribe By
JENNIFER HABERKORN & SARAH KLIFF | 7/12/10 4:31 AM EDT Text Size- +
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Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) said the AMA's early support for the
Democrats' health reform legislation tied his hands when he proposed
health reform amendments.
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Months after delivering its crucial endorsement of the health care
overhaul, the American Medical Association has found itself with fewer
friends on Capitol Hill and more critics questioning its lobbying
savvy.
Its troubles couldn't come at a worse time: It is more dependent than
ever on having allies in Congress, thanks to the growing number of
Medicare patients.
The AMA's most prominent lobbying failure has been its inability to
repeal the obsolete formula governing payments for Medicare patients --
a method that has for years required regular temporary "fixes" to
avoid big pay cuts for doctors.
Determined to win repeal, which would have cost upward of $240
billion, the group refused to support an alternative five-year "fix"
proposed last month, alienating Democrats already under fire in an
election year for the ballooning deficit.
In the middle of the fray, the AMA -- the country's largest physician
organization, with more than 220,000 members -- launched a multimillion-
dollar targeted ad campaign around Memorial Day aimed at stirring up
the elderly and military families. "With access to health care for
seniors and military families hanging in the balance," the AMA print
ads read, "what did the U.S. Senate do? They took a vacation."
Doctors walked away, finally, in much worse shape than when
negotiations started, with only a six-month reprieve for physicians --
so temporary it will have to be revisited again shortly after the
November elections.
The AMA's "doc fix" failure was costly in more ways than one. The
group has spent $6.2 million on lobbying in 2010, far more than other
health groups, according to OpenSecrets.org, which tracks political
spending.
"For the amount of money that AMA spends, it doesn't seem to get the
bang for their buck," said a senior Republican health staffer who has
worked with the group.
"By contrast, the American Hospital Association is much more careful
and strategic how it uses its resources and has gotten a lot more
done. They're certainly much more respected and have better access on
the Hill."
"People are beginning to question, from the Hill, what the AMA's clout
is," said Julius W. Hobson Jr., a senior policy adviser at the law
firm Polsinelli Shughart and a former AMA lobbyist. "That's a
problem."
The group's inflexible stance on the Medicare repeal, even when most
consider it politically impossible in the near future, has befuddled
much of the Hill and lobbying community.
"They are just shooting themselves in the foot, and no one can figure
out what they're doing," a congressional Democratic aide said on
condition of anonymity, citing appreciation that the group backed the
reform law. "Their lobbying effort is the least nimble that anyone has
seen in a long time."
The irony is that individual doctors garner a great deal of respect
among the public and on the Hill -- as demonstrated by how hard the
White House worked to win their support for the reform law. But that
respect doesn't transfer to the doctors' organized lobby.
"What I care about is what physicians in Iowa think," said Sen. Chuck
Grassley, ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, which has
jurisdiction over Medicare. "And what I hear from them isn't always
the same as what the organization in Washington says
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