Does the AMA Still Matter?

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As the field of health care changes, so do its most staid institutions. Since its reorganization in 1900, the American Medical Association (AMA) served as a body of powerful political influence during the 20th century. But as Revere of Effect Measure and Joseph of The Corpus Callosum explain, membership in the AMA began declining with the advent of Medicare and corporate health care--its pull with legislators became less relevant to practicing physicians. Now, the AMA has released a statement of opposition to the public health care option in President Obama's health care reform plan, leading bloggers to question whether the organization itself will soon become obsolete. As Revere states, "We are rapidly moving into a new era of medical practice."

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It's a few weeks old, but I just came across this oped in the San Francisco Chronicle by Robert Restuccia and Lydia Vaias.
When I first heard about the American Medical Association (AMA) opposing Obama's health care reform, I was troubled.  I almost wrote a post about it, but by the time I got home, I found that others had beaten me to it.  
Yesterday, the influential AMA (American Medical Association) announced that it would cease its opposition to the concept of medical marijuana and instead advocate for a change in federal classification of the drug.
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure