The American Medical Association, the United States’ largest advocacy group for doctors, on Tuesday urged the Senate to reject Senate Republicans’ last-minute effort to repeal Obamacare.
“I am writing to express our opposition to the Cassidy-Graham-Heller-Johnson Amendment,” the group’s CEO and executive vice president James L. Madara wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
“We also urge the Senate to reject any other legislative efforts that would jeopardize health insurance coverage for tens of millions of Americans,” he said.
Madara said the latest proposal, introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), “violates the precept of ‘first do no harm.'”
“We believe the Graham-Cassidy Amendment would result in millions of Americans losing their health insurance coverage, destabilize health insurance markets, and decrease access to affordable coverage and care,” he said.
Madara said the group is also concerned the bill would “convert the Medicaid program into a system that limits federal support to care for needy patients to an insufficient predetermined formula based on per-capita-caps” and “would allow insurers to charge unaffordable premiums” to patients with pre-existing conditions.
Read the full letter:
