Posts Tagged health care costs

The Public Gets It

Posted by admin in News on February 25th, 2010

Like many Americans we’ll be paying close attention to tomorrow’s Health Care Summit.  A new national survey by Public Opinion Strategies includes the following very interesting finding:

When asked an open-ended question about the one or two reform ideas they would most like to see emerge from the meeting, Republicans and Independents would put medical liability much higher on the agenda than what is being discussed in Washington.

Needless to say we couldn’t agree more.  The need for medical liability reform is the sleeping giant of the health care debate.  By embracing it Democrats could score a hat trick: a) find enough common ground to get agreement with Republicans, b) tackle one of the major cost drivers that is essential to actually getting control of health care costs, and c) catch up with the public!

But will the trial bar let them do what’s good for the country?  Do we really need to answer that?

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Health Care Push Revives Tort Reform Debate

Posted by admin in News on September 3rd, 2009

NationalJournal.com

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

Proponents Predict Billions In Savings From Reform, But Opponents Say Changes Aren’t Worth It

by Jason Plautz

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009

Addressing the American Medical Association in June, President Obama got applause for bringing up an issue facing many doctors — the threat of malpractice suits. “I recognize that it will be hard to make some of these changes if doctors feel like they’re constantly looking over their shoulders for fear of lawsuits,” he said. “I understand some doctors may feel the need to order more tests and treatments to avoid being legally vulnerable.”

But he immediately tempered the crowd. “I’m not advocating caps on malpractice awards, which I personally believe can be unfair to people who’ve been wrongfully harmed,” he added, to scattered booing.

Obama’s tightrope walk captured some of the difficulties on both sides of the debate over tort reform, a long-standing debate that has gained new prominence amid the summer’s larger battle over health care reform. It’s almost universally agreed that the threat of lawsuits hangs over doctors and has led to more tests and costs, but wholesale reform of the tort system is viewed by many observers as too big — or too divisive — a step without enough of a payoff. Read the rest of this entry »

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