Medical Malpractice Crisis My Ass

Missouri: Medical malpractice insurers in Missouri and Illinois raised premiums last year even though they paid out "substantially less in claims on behalf of their physician customers," according to a new report by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The report found that Missouri's malpractice insurers' loss ratio -- the ratio between the amount companies project they will pay out and the amount in premiums they collect -- decreased by nearly 35% last year. In Illinois, the companies' loss ratio decreased more than 14%, according to the report. The report also found that malpractice insurers in Illinois took in 13% more in premiums last year, while direct losses increased only 3%. At the same time, Missouri companies' premiums increased 8.4% while direct losses dropped 26%. Critics of the insurers said the study shows the companies are "gouging doctors," the Post-Dispatch reports. However, industry officials said the report does not include important costs, such as estimated future expenses and hospitals that self-insure (Sorkin, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7/24).
****From Kaiser Daily Health Policy Reports

OK. This shit pisses me off to no end. One of the big ways that Republicans want to "reform" the health care system, and reign in costs, is to limit patient's abilities to recieve damages for medical malpractice. Some answer! Limit a patient's rights, while doing nothing to solve the out of control malpractice insurance Co.s They continue to screw over doctors, driving them to the point of leaving the profession, and who gets the blame? The patients! Even as payouts on behalf of the insurance Co.s go down, they continue to charge doctors more.

WHY IS NOONE GOING AFTER THE INSURERS? I'll tell you why: because patients are a hell of alot easier to target. Last year, the Ohio legislature passed Senate Bill 86, a bill that would make it illegal for an uninsured patient, with income below 200% of the federal "poverty level" to sue for malpractice if they are recieving free care. Can you say Tuskeegee? Of course, if you make more money, and are uninsured and getting free care, its still your right to sue if there is gross negligence etc. But if you're poor, you don't have that right.

This bill was an extension of the "good samaritan" law that says that you can't sue a health care professional giving you road side assistance. And that law makes perfect sense. If you are giving road side assistance, you're on the freaking road side, and you dont have access to what you would usually have to treat someone, the situation is very difficult etc. But with SB 86, we say that even if you are treating a patient in your own office (we're not talking free clinics here, we are talking docs seeing patients in their office, with all of their regular attendants/equip etc) you aren't liable for what kind of treatment you give that patient. SB 86 feeds off the fears of some doctors of "poor people" who are just out to make a buck scaming you. When I talked with my doctor about it, and told him that I was against SB 86 he looked horrified. I said "look, you have to admit that you are 10 x more likely to be sued by your lawyer patient, than you are from your uninsured patients who you are truly helping out, who don't have resources to hire a lawyer anyways, and who have less knowledge of their rights as a patient." He laughed, then agreed with me.

We fought this bill as hard as we could: showed evidence that poor people are less likely to sue (even when they should), and we even got quotes from insurers saying that this bill would do NOTHING to bring down the cost of malpractice insurance. It was simply a bill to make docs less scared. My solution would be to educate the docs on the reality of the situation, instead of taking away people's rights to assuage their unfounded fears. This is sooooo Bushy. Don't do anything to address the actual problem, just do whatever necessary to make sure that your cronies keep on making money hand over fist, at the expense of the rest of us.