Democratic Party

Great article by Michael Hiltzik on LA Times today about tort reforms role as health cares circus sideshow. As Hiltzik puts it:

“Insurance companies love it because the less money they pay out to plaintiffs, the more they get to keep. Republicans love it because trial lawyers give three-quarters of their political donations to Democrats. And Democrats pay it lip service because theyre afraid to look like lawyer lovers.

Scapegoating medical liability as the reason for high health care costs is certainly nothing new. It just so happens that it is a convenient argument to make during debates on health care. “Frivolous lawsuits are causing this problem,” they shout. Are you surprised that the only people making these arguments are the ones who would benefit from not medical responsibility?

That facts according to Hiltzik are:

Liability for medical mistakes is estimated to contribute to no more than three percent of all U.S. health care spending. That means out of the over one-trillion dollars of annual health care costs, approx. fifty-billion dollars is comprised of malpractice litigation. In other words, even if we eliminated medical liability altogether, we would be in the exact same situation with health care.

The myth of medical liability being the main cause of health care costs has to end. We need to start focusing on the real problems and inefficiencies of the current system and stop chasing ghosts. Even if we got rid of medical liability in total, we would still be facing the same problems. Therefore, let’s shift the discussion to the real problems and stop filing in with the insurance lobby.

In fact, in places where tort reform has taken firm root, we have not seen a dramatic decrease in health care costs. Do you know what we have seen in those areas? Greater profitability for insurance companies. Even worse, people with legitimate personal injury and medical malpractice claims go without compensation.