The American Medical Association said it is open to considering a wide range of health care reform policies, but the doctors' group on Wednesday shied away from specifically endorsing President Obama's "public option" health insurance plan to cover the uninsured.
After much debate, the AMA, in Chicago for its annual meeting, took the words "public option" out of a resolution, opting instead to support "health system reform alternatives that are consistent with AMA principles."
Members said they voted for the change because they were concerned about endorsing a policy whose specific components are being ironed out by the White House and Congress.
"The problem is, we don't know what the public option is, so we don't want to be boxed in to that wording," said Dr. Clay Hays, an AMA member from Mississippi.
But Dr. Nancy Nielsen, immediate past president of the AMA, stressed that delegates are not against a publicly funded health care option, like the one Obama proposed.
"We are open to all possibilities," said Dr. Nancy Nielsen.
