Association of American Physicians and Surgeons calls for Obamacare defund

(UPI) -- A group of medical professionals that formed in 1943 to oppose the creation of Medicaid and Medicare has spoken out again, this time to bring down the Affordable Care Act.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, founded to "fight socialized medicine and to fight the government takeover of medicine," has launched a petition campaign to urge Congress to defund Obamacare.

"The coming ObamaCare train wreck is set to destroy American medicine and the American economy," the AAPS writes. "It's not too late to avert this disaster by immediately defunding and delaying implementation of ObamaCare."

Since its formation in 1943, the AAPS has made a habit of weighing in on major healthcare policy fights, including President Bill Clinton's efforts to overhaul the system in the 1990s. The group resurfaced in 2011, when the Affordable Care Act was winding through Congress.

Among its 3,000-odd members, the AAPS boasts former Rep. Ron Paul, a physician and outspoken libertarian, along with Georgia Reps. Tom Price and Paul Broun (he of the anti-evolution, anti-Big Bang Theory reputation), and Paul's son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

In addition to parting with much of the medical community such as the American Medical Association, the AAPS splits from the majority with its opposition to mandatory vaccination, enforced evidence-based medicine and practice guidelines, abortion, over-the-counter contraception and electronic medical records.

The National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, has on multiple occasions denied the AAPS's request to index articles from its internal publication, Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. While the NLM has declined to specify its reasons, others have cited the journal's repeated publication of discredited positions as the reason for its exclusion from the NLM and similar databases.

The petition for physicians reads:

"My job, duty, and mission is to care for my patients, and Obamacare, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, makes it impossible to fully fulfill my obligations.

"Therefore, as a medical professional I support the full repeal of Obamacare, and I oppose any bill or budget resolution that provides funding to implement or enforce any part of it."

The petition for patients reads:

"I rely on the patient physician relationship to serve my best interests, but Obamacare, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, forces the physician-government relationship to be placed ahead of me in the exam room.

"Therefore, as a patient reliant on good medical decision making and a responsive medical market I support the full repeal of Obamacare, and I oppose any bill or budget resolution that provides funding to implement or enforce any part of it."

"Lots of people, including one of its architects Max Baucus, are predicting a train wreck ahead for ObamaCare," writes Charles Sauer of the Market Institute in an accompanying alert. "But the drivers of the train, Obama and Reid, are determined to steam on. Maybe they even want a train wreck for American medicine and the American economy, to facilitate the endgame of total government takeover."

At the moment, he continues, "the train is wheezing and coughing as it struggles up a steep grade. More than 50 percent of the mandated deadlines in the law have been missed."