Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Real Health Coverage Tort Reform

Malpractice law suits create defensive medicine that costs a fortune for insurance companies and ultimately you, the public. This is a fact the Obama administration conveniently overlooked when selling its health insurance program.

A Massachusetts Medical Society study found that five out of six doctors order procedures and referrals that amount to about 25% of total medical costs, as a means of doctor protection from lawsuits. According to the Pacific Research Institute, defensive medicine wastes more than $200 billion a year.

Therefore, the entire medical-malpractice system has to be changed. There should be a form of no-fault system, a pool to reimburse those injured from medical errors or accidents. Judges would be medical experts, not inexpert juries, who are swayed by trial lawyers, who get one third of the proceeds. The no-fault pool would be funded by a small tax on health-insurance premiums.

The major problem to this simple solution of making remedial corrections to health insurance, is that over 90% of tort lawyer political contributions go to the Democrat party. This accounts for the fact tort reform is never one of the reforms Congress mentions.

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