Government
AMA to push for Medicaid tax credits
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 5, 2004
The American Medical Association will advocate that the medical portion of Medicaid be financed with federal tax credits to patients. The credits should be refundable, advanceable, inversely related to income and administratively simple, according to policies approved at the AMA Interim Meeting.
People who are eligible for Medicaid should not be subject to cost-sharing, AMA delegates said. Those who do not qualify for the program but still cannot afford health insurance also should receive some form of tax credit to help them buy coverage. But they should share in some of the cost, delegates added.
The AMA vote reflects the increasing recognition among physicians that Medicaid is in deep trouble. States are reducing benefits, increasing patients' cost-sharing and decreasing physician payments.
"Medicaid needs reform," said Daniel H. Johnson Jr., MD, a former AMA president. "This puts patients in the driver's seat and the doctor riding shotgun."
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/01/05/gvbf0105.htm.
