A recent article published on insurancenewsnet.com outlines four myths that proponents of medical malpractice tort reform rely upon for their arguments that there should be more barriers to medical malpractice victims receiving just compensation for their injuries.
You can find the article here:
[4 Medical Malpractice Falsehoods That Tort Reformers Need For You To Believe][1]
The four falsehoods:
**Medical Malpractice costs are crippling the economy.** Not so, states the article. In 2008, “medical liability costs” totaled $55.6 billion, or 2.4% of the annual health care spending in the US. Of that, only $5.7 billion was paid for claims made on behalf of injured victims. The bulk of the rest was incurred as “defensive medicine costs,” which is certainly one way to frame it. Another would be that those are costs incurred practicing medicine in the public’s interest and to make patients safer.
Still, if those numbers are correct, then the $5.7 billion in claims paid amounts to less than .25% of annual health care spending. More “eh” than “yikes!”
**Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies are burdened with high claims payouts.** Nothing could be further from the truth. The article cites the recent Florida Supreme Court decision striking down caps on damages in medical malpractice cases. The number it cites is staggering. Not only have insurance companies in Florida not been losing money, from 2003-2010, their net income increased more than 4300%.
4300% Staggering.
**We need caps to lower medical malpractice insurance rates.** As you can see above, medical malpractice insurance rates aren’t causing insurance companies, at least in Florida, to go out of business. The article cities the Florida decision again: states with caps don’t show the premium rate drops that states without caps did. There is therefore no correlation between caps on damages and lower medical malpractice insurance rates.
**States without caps will lose all their doctors to states with caps.** Again, citing the Florida decision, this is simply not true.
[1]: http://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/2014/05/29/4-medical-malpractice-falsehoods-that-tort-reformers-need-for-you-to-believe-a-510593.html#.U4dop5RdWjc “4 Medical Malpractice Falsehoods That Tort Reformers Need For You To Believe”
