The American Medical Association’s announcement this week that its member doctors supported the Senate health insurance legislation was widely seen as a key endorsement that helped sew up passage of the historic bill yesterday.

But the announcement was not as unequivocal as it appeared. The AMA president-elect, Dr. Cecil B. Wilson, told the Globe that “support’’ was not the same as an “endorsement’’ and that the group will withhold final judgment as it lobbies for further changes in a House and Senate compromise.