Employers and doctors belonging to the American Medical Association are lining up against parts of the health-reform plans such as that introduced by Sen. Ted Kennedy. The opposition is mostly targeted against the idea of a government-backed insurance plan that would compete with private insurers. The AMA, the country’s largest physician group with 250,000 members, said a public plan “threatens to restrict patient choice” by driving out private insurers, according to the NY Times . Instead, health-care services should be “provided through private markets, as they are currently,” the AMA told the NY Times. The U.S.

Chamber of Commerce — which represents three million businesses — opposes the public plan idea as well, according to the WSJ . The group says it is concerned that the proposed mandate that employers help pay for insurance would add new costs to already struggling businesses. Meanwhile, private insurers also are pushing back against the idea of government-run exchanges where consumers could buy policies. The insurers are instead backing the idea of allowing some plans to operate outside the exchanges, says the WSJ.

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More Opposition Forms to Government Insurance Option