Here are six things to know.
1. When former President Barack Obama was in office, the caucus regularly tried to overturn the ACA, according to the report.
2. Mona Mangat, MD, an allergist-immunologist and chair of Doctors for America — a 16,000-member organization that favors the current health law — told Kaiser Health News views of the caucus “are driven more by political affiliation.” She added, “It doesn’t make me feel great. Doctors outside of Congress do not support their views.”
3. However, Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, a caucus member first elected in 2003, told Kaiser Health News the anti-ACA Republican physicians do represent the views of the profession.
“Doctors tend to be fairly conservative and are fairly tight with their dollars, and that the vast proportion of doctors in Congress [are] Republican is not an accident,” Rep. Burgess said.
4. Several obstetrician-gynecologists in the 16-member House caucus are anti-abortion and oppose the ACA provision providing free prescription contraception, according to the report.
5. The report also notes most members of the GOP caucus are male, and only eight of them are physicians. Other caucus members include a registered nurse, a pharmacist and a dentist.
6. On the Senate side, there are three physicians who are all Republican, the report states.
For more on this story, read Phil Galewitz’s full report here.
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