For immediate release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Withdraw the healthcare bill and start over.

That’s the message in a letter sent today to Sen. Harry Reid from a national physician association representing doctors in all specialties.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) asked Senate Majority Harry Reid to give America a real Christmas gift: withdraw the divisive healthcare reform bill.

The majority of Americans don’t want the bill—which is primarily a compulsory insurance bill – including the majority of physicians.  More than 40 medical organizations are on the record against the bill, representing more than 500,000 doctors – far surpassing the AMA membership.

There’s something in the 2,000 pages for everyone to hate,” said Jane M. Orient, M.D., AAPS Executive Director, co-signatory of the letter.  “It’s bad medicine, and bad public policy.”

The letter states:  “The heart of this proposal is compulsory insurance: it forces Americans to buy a product they would otherwise reject, thereby subsidizing the very corporations that are being justly criticized from both the left and the right. This should be unacceptable to all, including both single-payer and free-market advocates…..

…..The current proposal is like giving a patient an injection of 2,000 ingredients—some untested either alone or in combination, some known to have serious adverse effects, and some to be concocted later by an administrative agency. It is bad medicine, and bad public policy.”

Dr. Orient emphasized that the Senate is about to vote away its own authority, delegating it to politically unaccountable bureaucrats. “A vote for this could be the last meaningful vote on health policy that any senator will have the opportunity to cast,” she speculated.“The right thing to do is to start over with thoughtful, one-at-a-time, transparent proposals, with hearings and plenty of constituent input. That is the way a representative, deliberative body is supposed to work—not by backroom deals and arm-twisting to come up with a minimum number of votes.,” warned Dr. Orient.

TEXT OF LETTER BELOW

December 18, 2009

Honorable Harry Reid

Majority Leader

United States Senate

Dear Senator Reid:

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which speaks for thousands of physicians in all specialties nationwide, and millions of their patients, urges you to withdraw the current Senate “health-care reform” proposal—simply because it is the only right thing to do.

The heart of this proposal is compulsory insurance: it forces Americans to buy a product they would otherwise reject, thereby subsidizing the very corporations that are being justly criticized from both the left and the right. This should be unacceptable to all, including both single-payer and free-market advocates.

The bill increases costs and decreases choices—the opposite of the stated goals—and is thus a fraud perpetrated on the American people.

There is no way that 2,000 pages replete with bureaucratic requirements and restrictions—and political payoffs—can be fixed. The Senate needs to start over with thoughtful, one-at-a-time, transparent measures. The current proposal is like giving a patient an injection of 2,000 ingredients—some untested either alone or in combination, some known to have serious adverse effects, and some to be concocted later by an administrative agency. It is bad medicine, and bad public policy.

The majority of Americans are opposed to this proposal. The more they learn about it, the more they oppose it. The content of the bill is largely not known even by Senators who are being pressured to vote for it. But in a sense, the details don’t even matter.

We are confounded by your willingness to neuter the U.S. Senate with this bill, abdicating your power and turning so much control over to the Secretary of HHS and other unelected officials.

Some senators fear losing their job if they vote “yes,” some if they vote “no.” Should that be the sole basis for voting? Don’t put them in that dilemma. Think of the future of the U.S. Senate itself as a deliberative, representative body, with meaningful authority.

Give your constituents and your country a real Christmas gift. Preserve our American heritage. Withdraw this bill.

George Watson, D.O., President, and Jane Orient, M.D., Executive Director, AAPS

CC U.S. Senate