MSNJ President Opposes H.R. 3962

Nov 11, 2009
Author:

AN OPEN LETTER TO PHYSICIANS AND PATIENTS IN NEW JERSEY

Despite the recent endorsement of H.R. 3962 by our American Medical Association, physicians in New Jersey cannot support this legislation.

The 9,000 physician members of the Medical Society of New Jersey will not endorse healthcare reform legislation that fails to include essential elements needed to fix our current healthcare system.

Meaningful reform includes:

• Accessible, affordable health insurance for all citizens.


• Reform of abusive health insurance industry practices such as pre-existing condition clauses and denial of payment for medically necessary care.


• Medical liability reforms that decrease defensive medicine and the associated costs to the system.


• Permanent reform of the payment system for government sponsored programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.  The Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula must be repealed and replaced with a system that creates improved access to care.

Unfortunately H.R. 3962 either fails to address these key elements or does not go far enough to assure meaningful reform.

Our state Medical Society will continue to work with the AMA and our members of Congress to advocate for health system reform that works for our members and the patients they serve.  To that end, the MSNJ delegation to the AMA will co-sponsor a resolution with its Southeast Coalition partners to remove the AMA endorsement of

H.R. 3962.  MSNJ will advance this resolution at the AMA’s Interim Meeting this weekend in Houston, Texas.

Sincerely,

Joseph Reichman