Activists, advocacy groups rev up behind their causes, revisit health law positions

As Tea Partiers roll through Iowa on a bus tour, single-payer advocates rally outside the annual convention of the health insurer trade group, America's Health Insurance Plans. Meanwhile, as the American Medical Association's House of Delegates meets in Chicago, its members will revisit the organzation's position on the individual mandate. In the background, some of the physician organization's members blame the AMA's declining ranks on the position it took in support of the health law.   

NPR: Tea Party Revs Up Bus Tour, Rolls Through Iowa
The Iowa caucuses are the first big test of the nominating process, but the 2012 caucuses will also provide the first big test in a presidential contest for the Tea Party, which was formed during President Obama's first year in office. ... Tea Party growth nationally was fueled by opposition to the health care bill Obama pushed for and signed into law last year (Gonyea, 6/20). 

California Healthline: Single-Payer Hopefuls Press Their Cause
Health care providers, labor groups and single-payer advocates turned out on the street outside of the annual convention of America's Health Insurance Plans, a national trade group of health insurers (Gorn, 6/17).

CBS: Will Doctors Continue To Support Health Care Mandate?
As many of the nation's physicians gather at a convention in Chicago this weekend, one of the most controversial issues on their agenda is continued support of the "individual mandate," a key part of President Obama's health care overhaul. "It will be intensely debated," said Dr. Lori Heim, a North Carolina family physician who travelled to Chicago for the annual meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA), the nation's largest physicians group. AMA support for the Affordable Care Act, and specifically the individual mandate, which requires that nearly all Americans purchase health insurance, was seen as important in setting the stage for its passage last year (Mank, 6/17). 

Denver Post: AMA Membership Drops
The American Medical Association said Sunday that it lost 12,000 member physicians last year, which some blamed on the group's support of the health care law (6/20).