President Obama is in Chicago today, addressing the American Medical Association on the heels of their coming out against his health care overhaul plans. The administration hopes to enact a public insurance policy that would compete with private insurers, and both the AMA and Republicans in Congress oppose the plan. So Obama did what Obama does, and climbed up on his bully pulpit and talked directly to the AMA. The Washington Post’s Washington Wire has the president’s words:

“We know this is an historic opportunity we’ve never seen before and may not see again,” he said. “But we also know that there are those who will try and scuttle this opportunity no matter what – who will use the same scare tactics and fear-mongering that’s worked in the past. They’ll give dire warnings about socialized medicine and government takeovers; long lines and rationed care; decisions made by bureaucrats and not doctors. We’ve heard it all before – and because these fear tactics have worked, things have kept getting worse.”

President Obama is trying to allay some fears that this would adversely affect those that already have insurance they like, stating that if it ain’t broke in health care, he’s not looking to fix it.

The president vowed that the plan would not force any American in to or out of a plan they like and want to keep. “My view is that health care reform should be guided by a simple principle: fix what’s broken and build on what works,” he said.

Telling the AMA that he needs their help for this to work, Obama reminded them of why they became doctors, and how current health care practices are getting in the way, telling them, ““You did not enter this profession to be bean-counters and paper-pushers. You entered this profession to be healers, and that’s what our health care system should let you be.”

The last time massive health care reform was proposed, it was the Clinton administration, and it crashed and burned. However, health care costs and coverage have worsened since then, so we can hope that something actually gets accomplished this time around. There are still a lot of details to be filled in, and some questions to be answered, but if the AMA could get on board here, that’d be pretty helpful. I guess we’ll see.

photo credit: Viloentz’ flickr photostream/Creative Commons