The figure most commonly cited as the cost of all medical malpractice is about one half of one percent of all healthcare expenditures. Now, some people claim that figure is too low. So let’s double it and assume that medical malpractice costs add up to 1 full percent of total healthcare spending.
Unquestionably, some portion of that 1 percent represent legitimate expenditures that no amount of tort “reform” would make go away. For example, if a doctor operates on the wrong person or wrong body part, that doctor should have to pay SOMETHING to the malpractice victim.
Rather than work on cutting the fat from that one percent, why not tackle healthcare fraud? The FBI estimates that healthcare fraud represents as little as three and as much as ten percent of total healthcare expenditures:
All health care programs are subject to fraud; however, Medicare and Medicaid programs are the most visible. Estimates of fraudulent billings to health care programs, both public and private, are estimated between 3 and 10 percent of total health care expenditures. The fraud schemes are not specific to any area but are found throughout the entire country. The schemes target large health care programs, public and private, as well as beneficiaries.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation - FINANCIAL CRIMES REPORT TO THE PUBLIC FISCAL YEAR 2007
Every dollar spent on healthcare fraud is an unnecessary expense. There’s no reason not to aggressively target it in a healthcare reform package. A nice benefit of doing so is that it may also cut down on money spent on medical malpractice. Here’s more from the FBI:
One of the most significant trends observed in recent health care fraud cases includes the willingness of medical professionals to risk patient harm in their schemes. FBI investigations in several offices are focusing on subjects who conduct unnecessary surgeries, prescribe dangerous drugs without medical necessity, and engage in abusive or sub-standard care practices.
I defy you to tell me why we should focus on reducing medical malpractice costs as long as medical malpractice costs are less than healthcare fraud cases.
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