Articles Posted in Legislation

What does reforming medical malpractice have to do with the current health care reform debate that is a hot topic in Washington and here in Illinois? Not much, at least according to one ranking United States Senator.

“I honestly really don’t see this as a health care issue,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). The Senator, a former Rhode Island attorney general, argues that medical malpractice is more of an “intruder” into the debate to protect insurance companies, hospitals and doctors from being accountable for their mistakes.

There is very little objective evidence that malpractice reforms, like capping damages awards, have any impact on health care costs. California, which has had caps on medical malpractice awards for more then thirty years, has not seen health care costs reduced over that time period. The argument that doctors are practicing defensive medicine by ordering expensive tests to protect themselves from litigation is equally unpersuasive. Susan Steinman, the American Association for Justice’s director of policy, argued that hospitals and doctors seek additional tests to make more money, not because of the fear of lawsuits. Defensive medicine is not nearly the issue that doctors make it out to be and is more of a red herring to distract from real problems with the health care system, she said.

One of the principal arguments backers of tort reform use to justify damages caps is that increased insurance premiums have an adverse effect on health care costs that are passed on to the consumer.  This argument persists in spite of the fact that there is little or no evidence that this actually occurs.  In California, for instance, caps on medical malpractice damages have been in place for more then thirty years and there has been health care savings passed on to the patient.  The Dallas Morning News is reporting this morning that tort reform is not a panacea for health care costs.

In Texas voters were convinced to amend the state constution to impose a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering damage award.  Again, caps have failed to lower health care costs.  One study, from Dartmouth College, found that health care costs actually rose 24% in the three years after tort reform damages caps were imposed.

Now researchers at the University of Alabama have analyzed health care costs in the 27 states where there is some limit on damages imposed by the legislature, otherwise known as tort reform.  They concluded that there is no correlation between tort reform damages caps and decreased costs of health care.  In fact the price of health insurance has doubled in those states with damages caps and medicare spending has increased on average nearly 5% a year.

Glori Anne Scott of the Examiner.com wrote an excellent piece in support of the Colorado Legislature’s recent attempts to raise statutory caps on medical malpractice cases in that state.

Her explanation applies to counter the arguments of tort reformers everywhere.  While it will likely be a long and difficult battle to educate the Colorado legislature on the benefits of allowing a jury to fairly and accurately adjudicate medical malpractice cases on their merits without artificial limits on liability, the fact that the issue is even on the agenda is a positive steps for consumers and patients nationwide.

Here is an excerpt from her excellent piece: