Federal Health Care Reform - Concerns of the California Medical Association

November 21, 2009

Special Alert: Federal Health Reform

Today the United States Senate will vote on “cloture” to begin debate on health reform. CMA is opposed to the proposal currently before the Senate and has communicated our position and concerns to both California Senators. I and Immediate Past-President Dr. Dev GnanaDev will speak directly to Senators Feinstein and Boxer on Monday to make clear our concerns with the current proposal. In CMA’s view the current version does not improve patient care and could in fact, substantially harm the doctor-patient relationship. CMA is committed to working with our Congressional Delegation to substantially improve this legislation.

It is our hope that we will be able to support a final product that protects what currently works well for patients and fixes what is broken. The CMA Executive Committee and Board of Trustees will review any final legislative agreement and, with input from CMA member physicians, make a decision as to our final position.

Please stay tuned for more updates; CMA will provide a more detailed summary of our concerns shortly.

J. Brennan Cassidy, M.D.
CMA President