Mississippi medical malpractice insurance has dropped by 40% after reforms were put in place.
You are sure that it is a bogeyman?
With a big lie like that, you've got to be a lawyer!
Tort reform is the answer in just about every area of concern! Healthcare, environmentalism, labor law reform, and all else that hits us in the wallet.
TORT REFORM is CRUCIAL.
I know of DOCTORS whose NET PAY is equal to the INSURANCE they pay out so that their ENTIRE LIVIHOOD is not stripped from them by a lawsuit imposed over a matter that could not be helped.
Doctors get sued because they did not do appropriate tests, so they OVERTEST to avoid LAWSUITS and the COSTS GO UP!
I wonder how many LAWYERs would still be in practice if they had to carry personal liability insurance that hit ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS PER YEAR and up.
EIGHTY THOUSAND DOLLARS in not unusual.
Imagine how not having to carry such ridiculous amounts of insurance would IMPACT costs? And hospitals...where ONE HALF of the neurosurgeons, and ONE THIRD of the bone surgeons, and ONE HALF of the emergency room doctors etc. etc and those are ACCURATE NUMBERS across our nation....can YOU IMAGINE how costs would drop if this were not the norm.
Would you want to have to carry massive insurance because ONE THIRD of the folks in your profession were SUED EACH YEAR? Or ONE HALF?
Forget about it.
It has gotten crazy.
Lawyers are LIVING off of DOCTORS and that is PERVERTED.
I do agree with you that 15million illegals are a big problem, potentially adding 15M/300million 5% to the cost of medical care- and THAT must be addressed in addition to health care.
However, you asking that we just have to take YOUR word for it that tort reform is not the answer? Sorry, Charlie.
I'd rather take the word of a very respected firm- an analysis by Price Waterhouse Cooper Accounting Firm, instead. They do not agree with your seat-of-the-pants dismissal.
OK, as you pointed out California has a hugh and series additional problem, massive leeching by uninsured illegales, which is not seen to a similar extent in any other state. I think you answered the question why lawsuit reform alone is not a panacea for California. Whether it helps elsewhere is not addressed.
California has some of the lowest health insurance rates in the country.
Stock attorney response.
My last case today was a 92 y.o. brain CT ordered by the ER for "mental status change". It was the patient's 9th brain CT in the last 12 months (not to mention 2 brain MRI) all ordered for "mental status change", and all showing nothing but a 92 y.o. brain.
These studies are ordered not because the ER thinks they're really going to find something treatable, but to keep some long-lost nephew who hasn't seen gramps in 30 year from coming out of the woodwork and suing the doc for everything he's worth; if by some chance something is missed. All defensive medicine, all the time. And the illegals will receive the same outrageous over-utilization for the exact same reason.
And its not just malpractice litigation. It's also the cost of equipment liability coverage that makes little stents the size of a caterpillar cost thousands of dollars. If one fails, look out. Better get more liability insurance so you can remain in business, and more classes on "Risk Management". For God's sake "Risk Management" (a.k.a. figuring out how not to get sued) is it's own industry costing who knows how many billions, and taking doctor and nurse time away from actually caring for patients.