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Health Care Politicians Part 4 of 5
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GLASS LIPS TALKING
Having two of the proponents discussed in detail let us turn to the third proponent of reform for our health care system which is Med-mal lawsuit lawyers.
Trial Lawyers on Target:
While the excess of the litigation industry alone cannot explain America's mounting medical costs, many studies note that litigation is a large and growing contributor to our health care bill. An October 2006 report from the Manhattan Institute shows the efforts of trial lawyers to target health care providers for profit are raising U.S. health care cost. Scholars from Trial Lawyers Inc [Health Care] at the institute's Center for Legal Policy, concludes this area of litigation is significant because health care represents over 15 percent of the U.S. economy, up from only 5 percent in 1961 according to U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data.
Tort Tax Raises Cost:
Medical malpractice liability [the tort tax] on doctors and hospitals, whose cost constitute the majority of health expenses, as it is described in the report, it has grown much faster than overall health care inflation, according to 2004 data from the global management corporation Tillinghast-Towers Perrin. Medical malpractice liability alone constitutes more than 10 percent of the U.S. tort tax, which by 2003 represented more than $3,300 for the average family of four, according to Tillinghast-Towers Perrin. Medical malpractice tort claims awarded by courts, as well as pretrial settlements, provide U.S. trial lawyers with their largest health care sector revenue stream, according to the Manhattan Institute report. Litigation over pharmaceuticals and medical devices also exacts a staggering cost on the industry, notes James R. Copland, director of Manhattan's Center for Legal Policy.
Defensive Medicine Very Costly:
The direct costs of health care litigation only scratch the surface of the toll such lawsuits exact on the U.S. economy and on health care, the Manhattan Institute report emphasizes. "Med-mal lawsuits" tend to inflate health care costs by encouraging "defensive medicine" unnecessary procedures and referrals that doctors and hospitals prescribe in order to limit their exposure to future litigation, which explains the report. Studies suggest that defensive medicine costs are several times higher than the direct liability costs themselves. The report contends consumers are not made safer by product liability litigation over drugs and medical devices; such suits inevitably drive innovation from the marketplace that would lead to net health improvements, not only for our American society but for the entire world.
Indiscriminate Litigation Promotes Liability:
Any drug manufacturer risks the possibility of being held accountable for unanticipated liability of the magnitude of Vioxx and Fen Phen, the study notes, every drug company will consider such numbers in its research and investment decision, and many drugs that would otherwise save lives or improve the quality of lives will never reach the market. Defenders of tort litigation assert it has a deterrent effect on risky or negligent activity, which it undoubtedly does, Copland admitted. But "in our current civil justice system it also deters any activity that might lead to high-cost lawsuits, which is not at all the same thing as actual risk," he pointed out in an introduction to the report. When a liability system punishes indiscriminately, it does not efficiently deter bad conduct but rather reduces health care access by reducing the supply of doctors, the report says. Fear of litigation also encourages the use of expensive, unnecessary, and often dangerous procedures, and it lowers the expected return from research into new medicines and medical devices that can save lives.
The report also notes the litigation industry "does a very poor job compensating the victims it professes to be protecting." Most medical malpractice claimants are not harmed by avoidable doctor error, and most medical malpractice victims never sue. Plaintiffs typically wait years to recover damages and typically receive less than 50 cents on the dollar, with lawyers' and administrative fees soaking up the majority of settlements and verdicts.
Trial Lawyers Benefit Most from Health Care:
This is not rocket science to understand that "Med-mal lawsuits" overwhelmingly benefit the trial lawyers and not the malpractice claimants. So, what does this tell us? Real health care reform must be examined from the point of Med-mal Lawsuits sponsored by Attorneys, Illegal Aliens in the health care system and Ambulance Chasers prompting contingent fees.
In Part 5, we will uncover the true value of a "Single Payer Health Care System."
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