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Campaign 2000: A much-needed house call

The AMA's National House Call puts its efforts at patient advocacy right where the nation's attention is most focused.

Editorial. Feb. 21, 2000.

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Personalities, not policies, tend to dominate the early presidential primaries.

Candidates mostly try to mark broad contrasts between themselves and others in the race, often at the expense of detailed explanations of what they will actually do once elected. Meanwhile, the media and public can't help but be distracted by the possibility of a Cinderella story, the underdog candidate who stages a dramatic win against a front-runner (a la McCain in New Hampshire, much to the relief of reporters desperate for a Republican-side horse race to match Gore vs. Bradley).

But with Iowa and New Hampshire now history and as the rest of the primaries grind on, the pressure will be on the candidates who emerge as solid contenders to refine their proposals and add in the specifics that demonstrate they have knowledge and solutions to match their broader political rhetoric.

The AMA has made the decision to be there on the campaign trail, too, and to help that process along. Top AMA leaders plan to be where the candidates, the voters and members of the news media are, to jump-start the national debate on health care.

The initiative is called the AMA's National House Call. It marks a new, more activist turn for the AMA, one that puts its efforts at patient advocacy right where the nation's attention is most focused during this election year.

In this house call, the doctors are bringing the house itself -- in the form of a mobile home -- along when they come calling. It will be a familiar sight in primary states during the coming months, just as it was in Iowa and New Hampshire already.

Guiding the AMA's message are three crucial themes: The Patients' Bill of Rights (the AMA is a strong supporter of the version passed by the U.S. House), the need to solve the problem of 44 million uninsured Americans and Medicare reform. These are the cornerstone for six basic questions that the AMA has put forth. Voters have every right to expect that their candidates should be able to answer them.

Any candidate who bothers to read the opinion polls should get some solid answers ready. Those questions go to the heart of concerns that the public says are very important in survey after survey.

The AMA's National House Call is expected to go on as long as needed. In terms of the primaries, that probably means until early April. After that, both parties may expect to receive AMA house calls at their summer conventions as well as into the fall campaign season.

Just as in the house calls of yesteryear, these doctors are going where they are needed, and they know the best way to find a cure for what ails us is to start by asking some questions.

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