Posted on 08/12/2009 12:53:57 PM PDT by delacoert
The elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about is the very high and escalating cost of malpractice insurance that every health care provider must recover if they are going to practice medicine in this country. It all starts with tort reform -- putting some limits on the liability that our providers are exposed to whenever malpractice is charged or suspected. If there were some sensible limits in place, then there would not be the pressure to practice defensive medicine. Some estimates of the cost to our system of defensive medicine range upwards of 25-30 percent of the total cost of care. If we could harness those costs, there would be adequate financing to cover those people in this country -- about 15 million -- who truly need the help to afford healthcare.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Trial lawyers and labor unions are the biggest democrat donors. Any further questions?
Two words:
"John Edwards".
It’s all because Obama is lying or deluded by leftist ideology, or both.
There are so many things a person taking an honest look at this would consider. That’s why I think Obama is exposed as a very dishonest president.
The last time I saw this figure estimated it was almost 80%.
A couple years ago my wife's doctors had their insurance increase 10 times, from $10,000 a year to $100,000 a year. It's only 4 doctors doing GP.
Ya can't have it both ways, BOZO!
I wrote to my Congressman (Phil Roe) that we the people will believe the oligarchy is serious about actually fixing the healthcare system when one of the biggest money drains is addressed BEFORE proposing a bill. Until Illegal immigration is dealt with, there is no way to forecast truthfully what are the expected costs. Until the day Illegal immigration is handled before any healthcare bill, we the people will know the federal oligarchs are lying to U.S. So stop lying to us, Congressman.
What percentage of their gross income as a practice is that? Probably 5% or less.
parsy, who says no true conservative would go anywhere near tort reform the way most mean it.
American Assn for Justice
Formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), this group of plaintiffs’ attorneys and others in the legal profession now goes by the name of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) and boasts 56,000 members worldwide. A lobbying heavyweight, the association has been battling any attempt at tort reform, including recent proposals to cap awards in medical malpractice lawsuits. AAJ also lobbies Congress on any legislation that may inhibit the ability of consumers to bring lawsuits, particularly against health care providers, asbestos companies or insurance companies processing claims related to terrorism. The association favors Democrats, who oppose most attempts to initiate tort reform.
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000065
Not that I mind, but a lot of clowns might be insulted.
Under the Obama plan doctors can still be sued, but not the government. And of course if the medical board says do this and and it doesn’t work the doctor can be sued but not the board.
I think socialized "legalcare" would be a good idea, too.
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/05/19/doctors-flock-to-texas-after-tort-reform/
Doctors Flock to Texas After Tort Reform
I fear that many of our problems today stem from the fact that far too many of our legislators are LAWYERS. Further, I believe that we need more DOCTORS in those positions.
While there ARE exceptions (Bill Frist toward the end of his term, Phil Gingrey who strays from time to time) my rule that physicians make better legislators than most lawyers generally holds true. I attribute that to the fact that most doctors are trained in the SCIENTIFIC METHOD and rely more on FACTS and EMPIRICAL DATA for their decisions. Ron Paul, Larry McDonald, Paul Broun, John Linder, Tom Price are (or were) all doctors. Im sure you can think of other examples/exceptions.
Unfortunately, far too many of these guys are ATTORNEYS.
Our late friend and author, composer, lover of Bach, pianist and all-around Renaissance man, Tupper Saussy, who somehow dodged the family tradition of becoming one, traced the term attorney back to the Sanscrit word torwa. And what does torwa mean? TO TWIST!
While SOME of these attorney-legislators are conservatives, their law school moot court training forced them to argue BOTH SIDES OF THE SAME CASE. I rather suspect that experience allows them to rationalize voting against the Constitution when expediency and/or their political survival/favor with their party leadership dictates. It is textbook moral relativism and we all pay for their perfidy.
Let me tie that attorney-legislator problem into the current health care debate: I might have missed it but I dont believe there was one mention of TORT REFORM from the lawyers who cobbled together that 1,000+ page monstrosity now dividing the nation.
Ill give you three guesses as to why and the last two dont count!
And heres something to think about for the primary elections to the 2010 general election: If the attorney-legislator representing your district does not pass muster at www.gradegov.com, if you can, find a NON-LAWYER for whom to vote after grilling him on the first principles near and dear to those who cherish freedom and the Constitution.
Too hard, say you?
No. SLAVERY is hard.
How many congresscritters are lawyers? (Party does not matter.)
However, that's irrelevant since the new $90,000 cost was passed on to their patients, namely me.
Lesse. The govt starts running its own health insurance program.. You can’t sue the govt. Trial Lawyers keep suing private companies and that alone will destroy them thus creating the single payer system the liberal misanthropes want AND destroying the Trial Lawyers themselves as well.
Sort of a cool symmetry in a way. And the irony of lawyers suing themselves out of a job.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.