The American Medical Association dropped out of the Partnership for America's Healthcare Future, a megacoalition of the healthcare industry devoted to killing single-payer and public-option proposals.
The AMA still opposes single payer, or Medicare for all, AMA CEO James Madara said in a statement, attributing the reason for the departure to different advocacy priorities.
"The AMA decided to leave the Partnership for America's Health Care Future so that we can devote more time to advocating for these policies that will address current coverage gaps and dysfunction in our healthcare system," Madara said.
A source within the AMA who spoke on condition of anonymity said the partnership was successful in highlighting why single payer wouldn't be viable within the U.S. system, but added, "we need to move on and not only talk about what we're against but what we're for."
Over the past year the partnership has blanketed the country with op-eds and advertisements and commissioned studies to critique various Democratic proposals.
The group, which includes the Federation of American Hospitals, the American Hospital Association, Ascension, HCA Healthcare, and pharmaceutical and insurance groups, has drawn the same battle lines against Medicaid and Medicare buy-in as with Medicare for all.
Recent media campaigns have included attacks on the Medicare buy-in proposals from Democratic presidential candidates like former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).
Madara said in his statement that the AMA is devoting its lobbying efforts to "interventions necessary to achieve health insurance coverage for all Americans and preserve core values of choice, health equity, quality, and innovation to improve the health of our nation."
The AMA has a long history of opposition to single payer—opposition credited with tanking the first big push for universal coverage back when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was building out the New Deal.
