--- 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: 2026-10-08T09:20:20.073Z 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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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=4d289e79-9bb8-4b06-89a7-1a1fd1d4a802&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Kellyanne Conway Says the Senate Health Care Bill Doesn't Cut Medicaid. That's Not True [Watch (HLS stream): Kellyanne Conway Says the Senate Health Care Bill Doesn't Cut Medicaid. That's Not True](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/A8oCL1nB.m3u8) (0:29)  _Published 2017-06-26. White House Senior Adviser Kellyanne Conway denied that the Senate's health care bill would cut Medicaid, even though the draft revealed Thursday suggests otherwise_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 26, 2017 6:08 PM UTC White House Senior Adviser Kellyanne Conway denied that the Senate's health care bill would cut Medicaid, even though the draft revealed Thursday suggests otherwise  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. ## Transcript [00:00] This bill has even more Medicaid cuts than the House [00:02] bill. Why is the president going back on his promise? [00:05] These are not cuts to Medicaid, George. This slows the [00:08] rate for the future. And it allows governors more [00:10] flexibility with Medicaid dollars, because they're closest [00:13] to the people in need. Medicaid's imperative. Its [00:17] founding was meant to help the poor, the sick, the [00:20] needy, the disabled children, some elderly, women, [00:24] particularly pregnant women. We are trying to get [00:27] Medicaid back to its original mooring. ```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":"2026-10-08T09:20:20.073Z","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":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/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"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Kellyanne Conway Says the Senate Health Care Bill Doesn't Cut Medicaid. 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