Well, if we completely eliminated all malpractice lawsuits, our medical costs would drop by a little less than 2%. Yeah, I can see why we’re focusing so much on it:
But a 2006 Congressional Budget Office report finds small connection between a 20 percent lowered premium and the actual delivery of lower health-care costs.
The report was the result of CBO’s analysis of the Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-Cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act of 2003, designed to lower premiums for medical malpractice insurance nationwide by an average of 25 percent to 30 percent from the levels likely to occur under current federal law. The CBO found that tort limits such as caps on non-economic damages, punitive damages and changes to rules governing the treatment of collateral sources of damages did reduce malpractice insurance premiums, but doctors apparently are in no position to pass many of those savings on to consumers.
"A reduction of 25 percent to 30 percent in medical malpractice premiums would not, by itself, have a significant impact on total health care costs," the report states.
"Malpractice costs amounted to an estimated $24 billion in 2002, less than 2 percent of overall health care spending. Thus, even a reduction of that magnitude in malpractice costs would lower health care costs by only about 0.4 percent to 0.5 percent, and the likely effect on health insurance premiums would be comparably small."
Some Mississippi patients certainly don’t seem to recognize the improvement: "Are they really trying to say that my medical costs have gone down?" asked Jackson resident Amanda Starnes, a diabetes victim profiled in a recent Jackson Free Press story. "I guess the $10,000 in debt I’ve accrued could have been $10,002, right? Somehow, I don’t see the difference."
Let me connect the dots and explain why the GOP is “obsessed” with tort reform.
One of the wealthiest groups of Democrats are trial lawyers. Tort reform will reduce the amount of money trial lawyers can give to Democratic candidates. Doctors tend to be Republicans, and they LOOOOOOVE tort reform. Passing it means doctors will give more money to Republicans who passed it. So, for the GOP, tort reform means more campaign money for them, and less campaign money for Democrats. That, in turn, means more Republicans winning elections. And that, dear readers, is why the GOP is obsessed with tort reform.
Many of us have always believed that greed is one of the factors that make our healthcare system the most expensive in the world.. Government has a place in keeping businesses…lawyers, drug companies, doctors, insurance companies…from making excessive profits off of people who can least afford it.
Even Republicans are starting to get behind the concept that government intervention on behalf of consumers is not only necessary…it is also good.
If we can put arbitrary caps on jury awards, we can put those same caps on the profits that drug companies, hospitals, doctors and insurance companies make.
Tort reform in itself will only save our 2 trillion dollar a year healthcare system about 0.5%
In itself…not a significant amount. But if you take the concept further and start putting caps not only on lawyers, but doctors, hospitals , insurance companies and drug companies…now you are talking real savings.
Government limits to jury awards. Yes.
Government limits to doctors fees. Yes
Government limits to drug companies profits. Yes
Government limits to insurance companies profits. Yes
Now we are all talking the same language