Reagan asks AMA to take a freeze on medicare pay
| Chicago
President Reagan called surging medical care costs a malignancy Thursday. He told the American Medical Association (AMA) it should accept a one-year freeze on medicare payments to physicians.
He noted that the cost of health care had risen almost 21/2 times as fast as the overall inflation rate in the last year. He outlined some longstanding proposals to cut costs by revising payment methods for medicare.
The AMA strongly opposes a White House plan for a one-year freeze at current levels in the payments medicare makes to doctors. Mr. Reagan also praised the AMA for a statement that the news media had exaggerated the dangers of the chemical dioxin.
