Healthcare costs drive insurance cost. Drive down the cost of the first and the second becomes it’s true definition, coverage for catastrophic circumstances. I too used to believe that tort reform would drive down costs dramatically. That changed in 2012 when I was privy to a west coast (California) hospital survey that included nearly all public and private hospitals in the state. Legal costs/liabilities amounted to slightly less than 3%, on the average, of these institutions total financial liabilities. Administrative errors amounted to around 4%. Remember, the medical industry is the only major US business not subject to ANY anti monopoly law/codes. Disclaimer: I and members of my family have been in the ‘industry’ for a combined 109 years.
I think tort reform is about 2-4% of cost, but the insurers are terrified of their liabilities that might come due because of some of their court cases getting sued for billions due to collusion etc.
I find this article interesting and I saw a Google patent on the repricing scheme but can’t find it now.
http://surgerycenterofoklahoma.tumblr.com/post/17555104043/ppo-repricing