[lbo-talk] Modern medical "coverage"

[Mark Bennett]

I wouldn't want to derail the general tone of the rant, but I looked into
the malpractice premium argument a few years ago, and found that it was
hardly cause of a catastrophic rise in health care costs.   This was the
argument made in California a generation ago, which resulted in the
enactment of MIRCA 1975, which was said to be necessary because of
skyrocketing damage awards that were driving doctors out of the state.  It
was bullshit, and a class action a few years later found that the "crisis"
was the result of insurers gouging their insureds. (My own legal malpractice
insurance went up $1,200 this year, and I've been practicing for two decades
with no claims.)  Medical malpractice premiums are no lower in California
than most states (they are slightly for some specialties).  I've been
involved in only a few med mal cases, but they have been so horrendous, and
the general damage cap so unjust (it hasn't been raised since 1975), that I
don't see how anyone can practice plaintiff's medical malpractice.

On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 7:27 AM, Jenny Brown <jbrown72073 at cs.com> wrote:


> Wojtek wrote:
>
>  A single payer insurance plan would save administrative costs but do
>> little for other factors without extensive tort reform that would lower
>> malpractice insurance costs, restructuring of health care delivery to focus
>> on less expensive altrnatives to high-tech treatment (a controversial
>> measure) and reforms aiming at behavioral changes of the population leading
>> to healthier life styles (whose success I doubt, unless draconian measures
>> are used.) And I see no effective ways of curbing greed that would fall
>> short of draconian measures.
>>
>
> On malpractice insurance, a lot of the motivation to sue is to ensure
> there's money to pay the health care costs of whatever got messed up in the
> malpractice.  Without the fear of being swamped with medical costs, a lot of
> these lawsuits would go away, and the ones that didn't wouldn't have a
> medical care award component cause everyone's covered.
> Jenny Brown
>
>
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