The Republican Party’s historic alliance with the nation’s leading group of physicians has soured to the point that some of its elected physicians have openly criticized the organization and what they call “Awakened” policies.
Important reasons: Like the Republican Party’s relationship with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the fragmented relationship marks a major shift in Washington’s power dynamics under the newly empowered Republican House of Representatives.
News promotion: Several Republican doctors expressed dissatisfaction with the American Medical Association in interviews with Axios, frequently citing the organization’s positions on issues such as abortion and gender-affirming care.
- Several members of Congress’ Doctor Caucus said they met with AMA leaders last week.
- “[W]When they told us their priorities, they matched ours. But that doesn’t seem to be your priority. What you seem to prioritize is abortion and transgender issues,” said Rep. Brad He Wenstrup (R, Ohio), one of his caucus co-chairs. I’m here.
- “It seems like all you care about is the awakened issue,” Wenstrap said, defining the group’s policy on abortion and transgender issues as “awakened.” An obligation to practice medical care with which they do not consent.
- Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Axios that the AMA “has been very left or center-left for a long time…if you have time, I’ll tell you 20 things the AMA has I can do it,” he said. It has been done in the last 5 years I disagree. “
- Beyond the AMA, Paul said the recognition of alignment with “waking up” policies has led other medical specialties such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which have led the voice on post-Roe reproductive health. I said it extends to groups. This has been in favor of gender-affirming care.
Big picture: The splintered relationship represents major shifts in both the Republican Party and the AMA, including increased openness by industry groups. To a greater role for the federal government in the health care system.
- The group opposed President Harry Truman’s National Health Insurance plan in the 1940s, the creation of Medicare in the 1960s, and President Bill Clinton’s health care plan in the 1990s, and has spent decades advocating “socialized medicine.” I have been against it.
- In June 2009, FiveThirtyEight reported that 64% of the AMA’s donations to federal candidates in the last decade went to Republicans. But despite opposing including public options in the Democratic health care plan under President Obama, the AMA ultimately became a key supporter of the Affordable Care Act, which was passed without Republican endorsement. became.
- The group has since opposed Republican abolition and replacement efforts in 2017. By the end of the decade, a vote by his AMA’s governing body to end the organization’s opposition to single-payer health care had barely failed, the New Yorker finally reported. Year.
But it’s the group’s Positions on major social issues that may have caused the most friction with parliamentary conservatives.
- “I think the AMAs have probably gone on longer, but it may have ended this summer when they testified about gun violence and Dobbs’ decision at Hill,” USC’s Joe Grogan said. Said. – Schaefer Senior Fellow and former Trump administration official.
- “Over the years, their power to persuade Republicans has waned, and what used to be quiet, private grumbles before and after meetings has become an outright contempt for the AMA.
What they say: The organization’s ideological shift is at least heading in the direction of over 270,000 members.
- “Over the course of more or less 20 years, a profession that was always thought of as a staunch Republican changed and leaned toward the Democratic side,” said David Rothman, a professor of social medicine at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians. I’m here. the surgeon told his WSJ in 2019.
Zoom in: The AMA adopted a position last year in response to everything from the Roe v. Wade overthrow to climate change. These are determined by the House of Representatives, which votes annually on what stance the organization should take on medical issues.
Opposite side: AMA president Jack Resneck said in an interview with Axios that while he knows some of the AMA’s policies may be seen as controversial, doctors agree with all of the group’s stances. He said it was likely not.
- “We are aligned with this group of doctors in Congress,” Lesneck said, citing pre-approval and payment rates as issues of bipartisan support. There will also be some problems that are not limited.”
- Also, some Republicans acknowledged the need for a working relationship with the group. Another co-chair of the Doctors’ Caucus, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Tex.), told his Axios:
What we see: Tensions could make it more difficult for Republicans and the AMA to tackle less controversial bipartisan issues like preapproval, doctor reimbursement rates, and provider mental health and burnout. .
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