Making the change to an individually-owned system will take a while and there are a number of safeguards that need to be built in. These include state high-risk pools, for instance, and continuation of Medicare for those already on the program. This is a very big agenda, but it has to be moved quickly. Employees are fed up with being forced into a plan the boss selected. For most workers, the employer is the last party they would turn to for help with medical issues.
Physicians are sick of health plans second-guessing their medical judgement.
The reality is that medicine is still as much art as science. Politicians are weary of the unending growth of the uninsured and the complaints they hear from all the other groups. We are about one more big regulation, or one economic downturn, away from having the whole house of cards collapse. We must have an alternative in place before that happens. And the AMA must be in the forefront of making sure we do.