Malpractice lawsuits induce defensive medicine that costs a fortune for insurance companies, the doctors and other providers, and ultimately you, the public. This is a fact ObamaCare conveniently overlooks.
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, for the sole purpose of doctor legal protection. 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 could be a 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 sharp trial lawyers, seeking 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 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 necessary reforms the consumer gets.
(See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole at Twitter.)
No comments:
Post a Comment