Diagnosis: No Clue

Yesterday we discovered the President of the AMA doesn't understand how the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program - which is an exchange of all private health insurance plans - works and why "opening it up to the public" is a ridiculous alternative to creating a new public health insurance option. The government doesn't fund the FEHBP. It contributes to the cost of insurance the same way your employer does if you have insurance through your job. It's an exchange of choices for employees of the government. And opening it up to the public is in no way, shape, or form comparable to creating a new public health insurance option.

The President of the American MEDICAL Association either doesn't know or can't articulate the distinction. Clip courtesy of Talking Points Memo TV:



For the record, CNN's anchor and reporter don't know the difference either because if they did, they would have called the President of the AMA on his lack of knowledge about the FEHBP - what it is and how it works. Instead, they think they have caught him reversing position on a public health insurance option. Though it'd be good if he had, he hasn't.