‘A MUCH BETTER PLACE’

Second Largest Doctors’ Group in U.S. Calls for Health Care for All

The American College of Physicians, which represents 141,000 doctors, endorsed two policy ideas.

A major U.S. doctors’ organization on Monday called for the government to guarantee health-care coverage for all Americans, reduce costs, and improve people’s basic well-being. The American College of Physicians, which represents 141,000 doctors with training in internal medicine, endorsed two ideas—a government-run “single-payer” system that would cover everyone, or a new “public option” government plan that would offer comprehensive coverage that can compete with private insurance. The group’s president, Robert McLean, said the organization isn’t endorsing specific policy proposals from presidential candidates but rather hopes to best address the nation’s health-care problems like high costs and gaps in insurance coverage. “We think there is a realistic chance that either of these two approaches could get us to a much, much better place,” McLean told the Associated Press. “It is not looking to be partisan, but I would say it is unavoidably political because policy is political.”