According to its mission statement, the American Medical Association exists “to promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health.” In practice, the AMA has become a well-funded political machine — one that uses its government-backed monopoly on medical billing codes to bankroll a progressive agenda.

Each year, the AMA collects hundreds of millions of dollars through royalties on its proprietary Current Procedural Terminology codes. These are the codes doctors use to communicate with insurers and federal agencies when they conduct checkups, order tests, or write prescriptions. Hospitals, insurance companies, and medical professionals are all required to use them — and pay for the privilege.

Instead of using its monopoly to support physicians or patients, the AMA has funneled its resources into ideological activism.

In 2023 alone, the AMA raked in nearly $285 million from CPT royalties. That isn’t a side hustle; it’s a windfall. Watchdogs now rank the AMA among the most financially powerful nonprofits in American health care.

The AMA didn’t earn that money through clinical excellence or medical innovation. It profits from what is essentially public infrastructure.

The federal government made it so. In the 1980s, Medicare and Medicaid began requiring CPT codes for billing. In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act made CPT codes the federal standard for electronic health care transactions. That mandate gave the AMA control over an indispensable part of American medicine.

Hospitals, providers, and insurers can’t opt out. But instead of using its monopoly to support physicians or patients, the AMA has funneled its resources into ideological activism.

On gun control, the AMA has pushed bans on so-called assault weapons, supported raising the legal age of ownership to 21, and opposed allowing teachers to defend themselves in the classroom.

On climate policy, it has declared climate change a “public health crisis,” called for slashing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, and demanded “carbon neutrality” by 2050. The group even promotes plant-based diets — not to improve patient health, but to cut emissions. One AMA paper noted that producing a single serving of red meat releases 200 times more carbon dioxide than growing a serving of beans.

During the 2020 George Floyd riots, the AMA declared that racism was “an urgent threat to public health,” pledged to dismantle “racist and discriminatory policies,” and released a video in which its board members solemnly recited these mantras. The group also called for sweeping police reform, claiming “a correlation between policing and adverse health outcomes.”

This is political advocacy, not public health. And it’s not limited to official statements — it’s backed by millions of dollars the AMA collects thanks to its government-protected monopoly.

In 2024, the AMA spent nearly $25 million on lobbying — more than the AARP. By contrast, the National Rifle Association spent just $2 million. The beef and dairy industries, which stand to lose if AMA-backed climate plans move forward, spent far less.

Through lobbying and political donations, the AMA is using your money — your premiums, your tax dollars — to advance its political goals.

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Photo by Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

That pipeline of influence may be in jeopardy.

According to recent reports, allies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have explored transferring CPT oversight from the AMA to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It’s a smart move that the Trump administration should take seriously.

A working model already exists. Health care providers use ICD codes — International Classification of Diseases — to document diagnoses. These codes are freely available, globally standardized, and cost nothing to use. There’s no reason procedural codes like CPT couldn’t operate the same way.

Stripping the AMA of its CPT monopoly wouldn’t just break a political racket. It would free American health care from a rent-seeking gatekeeper that has long since abandoned its original mission.

CPT codes are public infrastructure now. A private group with a political agenda shouldn’t be allowed to control access to them — especially not one that spends its royalty checks advancing the left’s culture war.

The Trump administration, with RFK Jr. at the Department of Health and Human Services, has a real opportunity here: End the royalty scheme, move CPT into the public domain, and cut off the AMA’s cash flow.

It’s time to let doctors get back to medicine — and take politics out of the exam room.