Posts Tagged ‘medical malpractice’
In the News
February 4, 2010Big Tort Means Big Problems for US Health Care
America is the land of litigation. A tort lawyer’s paradise. In America, you can sue anyone for just about anything. This has affected the cost of America’s health care, and has demoralized the medical profession. In fact, abusive tort litigation has added billions of dollars to health care costs, both directly, through settlements and high malpractice insurance rates, and indirectly, through the practice of “defensive medicine” to avoid litigation. For health care reform to be successful in bending the cost curve and improving quality of care, policymakers, particularly at the state level, cannot ignore medical liability reform.
Despite this, throughout the health care debate, medical liability reform has been glaringly omitted. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) recently spoke at the Heritage Foundation about the positive impact that reform could have on the health care system. Sen. Cornyn acknowledged that basic medical liability laws are necessary to protect patients against negligence and medical errors. However, the current legal environment—one without consistent state-wide oversight on punitive and non-economic damages—has fostered excessive litigation. In fact, The New England Journal of Medicine estimates that 40 percent of medical liability lawsuits are brought without merit. Excessive litigation encourages the practice of defensive medicine—ordering unnecessary tests, procedures, and referrals for the sole purpose of protecting the doctor against malpractice claims. A recent report found that 93 percent of physicians admit to practicing defensive medicine. Several studies show that this raises the cost of health care by approximately $200 billion annually. (more…)
Tags: medical malpractice, ObamaCare, plaintiffs bar, tort reform
Latest Research
October 6, 2009Obama’s Physician Press Conference Could Have Used a Shot in the Arm
In what was billed as doctors trekking across the country to enthusiastically support President Barrack Obama’s health care agenda, his press conference at the White House on Monday was in need of serious resuscitation.
From a lackluster response among the 150 doctors (outfitted in their “spiffy-looking” white coats lest we forgot who they were) at the event to Obama’s same go-to talking points to justify massive federal spending and Washington control of health care, it’s hard to understand how this conference added any value or differentiation from the dozens of other talks the President has given on his health reform push.
“We have now been debating the issue of health insurance reform for months,” Obama said during his quick press conference, which lasted roughly 9 minutes and didn’t include any comments from the visiting doctors or questions from the press. “At this point, we’ve heard all the arguments on both sides of the aisle. We’ve listened to every charge and every counter charge.” (more…)
Tags: AMA, Barack Obama, Government Health Care, health reform, medical malpractice, Medicare, physicians, Wall Street Journal
Quick Fact
September 9, 2009Fact Checking the White House: Two Major Reforms Conservatives Support
America’s health care system is one-sixth of the entire economy—larger than Britain’s. Restructuring something that large and complex in one massive bill rammed through Congress is a fool’s errand. There are bound to be major problems. Instead, we must incrementally reform health care in stages, by letting the 50 states act as laboratories for solutions. Let’s find out what works and doesn’t. Two major reforms already have broad support and can move us forward.
1) Give states more freedom from federal rules to experiment with reform measures, like medical malpractice reform and allowing people to buy insurance across state lines.
2) Fix the tax treatment of health insurance in a budget-neutral way so that people can buy it outside of their workplace. That way, you would no longer lose your health coverage if you change or lose your job, just as you wouldn’t lose your car or life insurance.
View our other videos fact checking the White House.
Tags: Britain, medical malpractice, portable insurance, state health reform
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