--- title: Health Care Bill: American Medical Association Opposes It description: The CEO of the AMA wrote a letter to Senate leadership laying out the organization's opposition to the health care bill canonical: https://time.com/4833408/american-medical-association-mitch-mcconnell-healthcare-bill/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-26T18:08:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:19:28.795Z article:section: Politics og:title: American Medical Association Opposes Health Care Bill og:description: The CEO wrote in a letter that it violated medicine's "do no harm" principle og:url: https://time.com/4833408/american-medical-association-mitch-mcconnell-healthcare-bill/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e17dc3160342db9/6988d2c397cdffa6976b149d/mcconnell.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6000 og:image:height: 3375 og:image:alt: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) during a news conference following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: American Medical Association Opposes Health Care Bill twitter:description: The CEO wrote in a letter that it violated medicine's "do no harm" principle twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e17dc3160342db9/6988d2c397cdffa6976b149d/mcconnell.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # American Medical Association Opposes Senate Health Care Bill > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 26, 2017 6:08 PM UTC  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) during a news conference following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 20, 2017. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) during a news conference following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 20, 2017. Doug Mills—The New York Times/Redux  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 26, 2017 6:08 PM UTC The CEO of the American Medical Association has written a letter to Senate leadership laying out the organization’s opposition to the Senate’s version of the [Obamacare repeal bill.](http://time.com/4780046/health-care-vote-polling/) “Medicine has long operated under the precept of Primum non nocere, or “first, do no harm,” Dr. James Madara [wrote in a letter ](https://searchlf.ama-assn.org/undefined/documentDownload?uri=%2Funstructured%2Fbinary%2Fletter%2FLETTERS%2FBCRA-Letter.pdf)addressed to [Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell](http://time.com/4830782/mitch-mcconnell-senate-health-care-bill-focus-votes/) and [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. ](http://time.com/4815307/chuck-schumer-parody-video-donald-trump-cabinet-meeting/)“The draft legislation violates that standard on many levels.” Schumer, like his Democratic colleagues, opposes the legislation. McConnell was a leader in drafting the legislation, which took place behind closed doors. He is currently trying to garner the necessary 50 votes for the bill to pass. Madara explained in his letter that the AMA had consistently advocated for reforms that would ensure people with health insurance don’t lose it, and that would provide “sufficient” funding of Medicaid. The association is particularly concerned, he wrote, about the proposal to replace the current federal funding for Medicaid with block grants to states based on enrollment. “Per-capita-caps fail to take into account unanticipated costs of new medical innovations or the fiscal impact of public health epidemics, such as the crisis of opioid abuse currently ravaging our nation,” Madara wrote. Madara also raised concerns with the provision of the bill that would prohibit individuals from using their medicaid coverage at Planned Parenthood. He did, however, praise portions of the bill, like extending cost sharing reduction payments, that he said would bring stability to the health care individual marketplace. The AMA also [opposed the House’s version](http://time.com/4767335/health-care-vote-trumpcare-congress-house/?iid=sr-link4) of the Obamacare repeal bill, which passed last month. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4833408/american-medical-association-mitch-mcconnell-healthcare-bill/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4833408/american-medical-association-mitch-mcconnell-healthcare-bill/"},"headline":"American Medical Association Opposes Senate Health Care Bill","datePublished":"2017-06-26T18:08:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:19:28.795Z","description":"The association said it violated medicine's \"do no harm\" principle","url":"https://time.com/4833408/american-medical-association-mitch-mcconnell-healthcare-bill/","keywords":["Health Care","Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e17dc3160342db9/6988d2c397cdffa6976b149d/mcconnell.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e17dc3160342db9/6988d2c397cdffa6976b149d/mcconnell.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) during a news conference following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington.","caption":"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) during a news conference following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington.","creditText":"Doug Mills—The New York Times/Redux","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4833408/american-medical-association-mitch-mcconnell-healthcare-bill/","name":"American Medical Association Opposes Senate Health Care Bill"}}]}] ```