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The American Medical Association (AMA) has thrown its support behind the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”

“America has the best healthcare in the world, if you can get it,” said AMA President-elect Cecil Wilson during a press conference Monday.

The AMA, which is the largest medical association of physicians in the United States, previously had announced its support for the House healthcare bill in November.

Wilson, who was joined at the podium by Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), praised the group of Democrats for “keeping the focus on [finding] a permanent solution.”

Baucus, whose committee was one of five in Congress to pass a healthcare bill, reveled in the magnitude of Monday’s endorsement.

“It’s an especially important endorsement [because] doctors know, [they] work with patients, they see patients.”

“If we could only have one organization support this bill, it would be the one you see today,” added Dodd.

The AMA’s endorsement comes as somewhat of a surprise given the fact that the Senate bill, unlike a separate piece of legislation passed weeks ago in the House, does not address cuts to Medicare reimbursement rates. Wilson, however, seemed content enough with the current bill, saying that passage “will bring us close to the finish line of healthcare reform.”