The Botox Endorsement

It is being bandied about as Something Important that the American Medical Association has endorsed the Senate’s version of health care “reform”.  But when you consider the facts behind it, the endorsement is meaningless.

First of all, just like Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson and all the other pork-bellied Senators who were slipped tax-payer monies in exchange for their vote, the AMA was conceded a rescinding on what has fondly been called the “Botox tax”.  That is, a tax on pure vanity-sourced plastic surgery.  A tax which is actually a fair one since Botox injections, liposution, nose jobs and the like are not medical necessities and have no business being subsidized by anyone’s premiums.  But vanity is big business in this country and the doctors who become wealthy performing such elective procedures were handed 30 pieces of federal tax-payer silver and their original tax liability was instead slapped down on small business owners who run tanning salons.

Another fact is that some 4/5 of American doctors do not belong to the AMA.  Read that again:  somewhere around 80% of American doctors do NOT belong to the AMA.  This means that the AMA is, effectively, a minority group, a group that does not represent the views of mainstream American medical practioners.  Yet, just like “the gentleman from Nebraska” and his Senate cronies, this small minority have been given preferential treatment in the Senate bill.  They are simply a useful tool to the Democrats because the AMA is a name recognized by most Americans, albeit without an understanding that it’s a good bet their own family doctor isn’t even a member of the organization.

This is yet another example of progressive liberal Democratic compassion.  Wring their hands and shed crocodile tears over the conditions of their poster-child “poor” constituents while forcing those who have true needs to subsidize the vain wants of their wealthy donors.  Truth be told, I hold little more fondness for Republicans, but erring on the side of business at least allows for the continued availability of jobs.  All the Democrats are doing is yet again robbing the poor to keep cash in the pockets of the wealthy, no matter how they try to spin it.