Wah said it was “past the point” of arguing whether the AMA should continue its support for the Affordable Care Act.
“It is the law of the land, and it's been reaffirmed,” Wah said. He added that the focus should be on making the law and its regulations better, and said the AMA could miss the opportunity to do so if it doesn't move on.
Annis noted that the AMA never fully supported the law 100%, citing its opposition to the Independent Payment Advisory Board, and the law's failure to address tort reform or the SGR. He added, however, that the AMA supported banning the denial of insurance coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and other provisions that were “putting reins on the insurance industry.”
He advocated that the AMA should continue to “pick apart the things we don't support and keep the things we do.”
Both candidates agreed that administrative burdens on physicians such as fulfilling maintenance of board certification have grown too onerous, that the AMA should work to preserve small, private practices, find alternative sources of funding for graduate medical education besides Medicare, and maintain vigilance on scope of practice regulations which may usurp physician leadership of healthcare teams.
In discussing why they should be chosen as president-elect, Annis told delegates that he was someone “who's walked in your shoes” as a former private practitioner and now a board member of St. David HealthCare Partnership, a six-hospital, Austin-based system. He also cited his experience serving in the Vietnam War.
