ACS Bulletin - August 2017

Daily on MSNBC. Interspersing
his comments with humor and
irony, Mr. Todd said, “I feel like
you doctors are a fish out of
water in DC because you guys
are too fact-based. Politics these
days—facts and beliefs, they
don’t exactly mesh very well.”
Mr. Todd predicts that
the final health care reform
legislation will be “some form
of ugly status quo—Obamacare
nibbled around the edges.” He
said that in the first 100 days
of the Trump Administration,
“Washington has been a lot of
noise but not a lot of action.”
He added that Washington is
going to be stuck for a while
because President Trump
began his administration
with Obamacare repeal.

“Beginning with health care, it’s polarizing, and Democrats now can’t work with Trump.

It’s going to be a conundrum
for Trump for some time.”
A political luncheon hosted
by the ACSPA political action
committee (ACSPA-SurgeonsPAC)
featured Mara Liasson, national
political correspondent for
National Public Radio and a Fox
News contributor. Ms. Liasson’s
comments centered on President
Trump as well, asking, “Is his

“Whatever our party, we are first physicians.
Our obligation is to the field of medicine, to
our country and to our patients. [Health care
reform] is not a Democratic issue; it’s not a
Republican issue. It’s a patient issue. If we
could find a middle ground on something
that fulfills President Trump’s pledges (end
mandates, care for those with preexisting
conditions, continue care under the Affordable
Care Act, lower premium costs), then we
will have done our job [with respect] to our
profession, to our country, and to our patients.”
—Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA)

“It’s an exciting time, and it’s particularly exciting, I’m sure, if you’re in health care every day. It’s exciting for every American that has to care about their health care. Somebody told me once that if everybody in your family is well, you’ve got lots of problems. If somebody in your family is sick, you’ve got one problem.