The nation’s largest physician’s group has affirmed its support for a key part of President Obama’s health care overhaul.

At its annual meeting in Chicago, the American Medical Association (AMA) voted to maintain its official position in favor of the ‘individual mandate,’ which requires nearly all Americans to purchase health insurance. The AMA prefers the term ‘individual responsibility.’

‘The AMA has strong policy in support of covering the uninsured, and we have renewed our commitment to achieving this through individual responsibility for health insurance with assistance for those who need it,’ Dr. Cecil Wilson, president of the AMA, said in a statement. ‘The AMA’s policy supporting individual responsibility has bipartisan roots, helps Americans get the care they need when they need it and ends cost shifting from those who are uninsured to those who are insured.’

The decision was made by some 500 members of the House of Delegates, which sets policy for the AMA. The vote followed intense discussions, according to delegates who took part.

‘It was very emotional and it was very heated,’ said Dr. Bruce Malone, president of the Texas Medical Association, which opposes the mandate. ‘These are a large number of very intelligent people who can certainly have a democratic […]