Now that a stake has been driven through the heart of the omnibus healthcare bill proposed and drafted by the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Axis (with an assist from Henry Waxman), we can get down to real reform. The President has stated that he wants to work with Republicans. Then let’s start with the most obvious cost control factor – malpractice/tort reform.
There is some truth to Democratic claims that several of the proposed reforms are interlocking and thus to address one specific issue might be difficult to accomplish. However, this in no way justifies their ridiculous proposal, including its huge growth in the federal government and its invasive government panels.
Unfortunately, the Democrats ignored the biggest opportunity for cost reduction: eliminating spurious lawsuits and getting ambulance-chasing lawyers out of the medical malpractice business. It is also clear that this reform is not interdependent on other reforms.
Doctors spend an enormous amount of time and effort protecting themselves from lawyers and avoiding lawsuits. They order extensive, expensive tests whose only purpose is to protect themselves from lawyers, and pay outrageous malpractice insurance fees just to rid themselves of these predators. Once lawyers get involved, a doctor’s world is always turned upside down.
Consider what happens in these situations. A lawyer takes on a case for someone who has real or imagined harm. The lawyer has no medical training except for the knowledge they have gained from working on other lawsuits. They run up significant costs that they front for the client, and then pursue a legal remedy. Frequently the insurance company settles (makes payment) to the litigant to minimize outlays. If not, the case goes to court in front of a judge (i.e., a lawyer) or jury, neither of whom typically has any medical training. Either way, the lawyer is reimbursed all the up-front costs plus 33-40% of the remaining funds. The person filing the case is often left with less than half of the proceeds.
We need to stop entrusting these issues to unqualified people through a legal system established mostly to enrich the participants as opposed to the truly harmed. Lawyers have no special knowledge or expertise to determine harm in these situations and neither do judges. We have allowed this system to get out of control and we, the American people, must insist that if any change is made to our medical system it starts right here.