WHEREAS:

It is recognized that for-profit HMOs and other like-minded managed care organizations are increasingly more cost conscious than they are care conscious; and

WHEREAS:

It is understood that care decisions and coverage are increasingly being driven by a bottom line mentality and devotion to profit before patients; and

WHEREAS:

It is realized that physicians and their patients have progressively less empowerment to make their own choices in health care matters; and

WHEREAS:

It is now sadly clear that what motivates managed care is profits before patients, sometimes even instead of patients, and certainly not excellence in medical diagnostics and therapeutics.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will continue to support a philosophy that puts patients before profits, that opposes the plundering of health care by managed care corporations, and that continues to work towards restoring control of medical practice to physicians and their patients.

SUBMITTED BY:

Robert L. Weinmann, M.D., President and Delegate 
Union of American Physicians & Dentists/AFSCME Local 206
California