Last weekend was a busy one – aside from Saturday Night Thiever Nancy Pelosi’s health care vote, the American Medical Association had its annual meeting. Several doctors present attempted to convince their colleagues to rescind support of the House health care bill (remember: as a naked attempt to buy the AMA’s support, both the House and Senate crafted separate “doc fix” legislation to override cuts to Medicare providers in the future.) Alas, their efforts did not succeed.


So, much like what happened when AARP betrayed their members, a new group has sprung up to serve the needs of doctors who feel disenfranchised by the AMA’s sell-out of their profession. The Doctor-Patient Medical Association will be an active voice in the health care debate moving forward, to represent doctors who are concerned for the future of the doctor-patient relationship.


Don’t worry about the AMA though – despite its official-sounding name, it turns out that they represent less than 20% of doctors, and make most of their revenue from the billing code books all doctors are required to use. Kind of like how AARP’s Medigap programs also benefit from special treatment under Congress’ proposed health care bill, and they endorse the proposals too. Just a coincidence?