Physicians on Health Reform, UPDATE!

Update 1/23/12 : the ASA, No. 7 below did not support the HCR Bill, just a Public Option. See the full correction here. My apologies. 

Below are the largest physicians organization, in order, with estimated membership numbers based on their own websites (or other sources when the Web Site didn't have them).

All are YES on reform with Public Option except 11 and 12 as noted below.

1. AMA 240,000
2. ACP 126,ooo (Internists and many medical subspecialists)
3. AAFP 94,000 (Family Practice)
4. ACS 76,000 (surgeons)
5. AOA 67,000 (osteopaths)
6. AAP 60,000 (pediatricians)
7. ACOG 52,000 (ob-gyn)
8. ASA 43,000 (Anesthesiology!)
9. APA 38,000 (psychiatry)
10. ACC 37,000 (cardiology)*

NO: 11. ACR 32,000 (Radiology - Not on Board)*
NO: 12. ACEP 27,000 (Emergency Medicine - Has policy statements, no stand on bills)

13. AGA 17,000 (gastroenterology)

14. It gets a little fuzzy from here on. I think Dermatolgy with 14K is next (they are against a public option), but there are probably organizations that I'm not thinking of that belong in here. Please fill me in and I will update accordingly.

SO, actually, the BIG NEWS is that 10 of the 10 largest physician organizations support health reform with a public option.

[*I had mistakenly put Radiology above Cardiology. But I checked the numbers again today, and these, I think are accurate as they are from the society's websites. PLEASE correct me if you think I've erred.]

State Medical Societies (these are rough estimates):

1. Texas 43,000 Against Senate Bill, member survey: more worried about govt than private insurer interference in medicine.
2. California 35,000. Sent letter of support to AMA
3. NY 30,000. Sent letter of support to AMA
4. PA 20,000. Sent letter of support to AMA on principals, not specifics
5. Florida 19,000. Has set of principles, no specifics
6. Illinois xx,000. For reform, worried about Medicaid expansion (low reimbursement) and no fix for SGR in Senate)

If you'd like to add your state to the list or correct what I have, please do and I will put it up on my blog.

And, of course, don't forget the recent NEJM published surveys of physicians' opinions on reform.

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