The bipartisan national debt commission thinks that reforming medical malpractice is a way to curb soaring health care costs and decrease the national debt, but let’s really look at the numbers here.
The panel says that reforming medical malpractice will save taxpayers $17 billion by 2020. This sounds like a big number until you realize that the United States spends $2.4 trillion dollars a year on health care. Medical liability costs are only 2.4% of that sitting right around at $55.6 billion. So, really this savings is just a fraction of a percent, but hey, any amount helps right?
No. Medical malpractice suits are supposed to prevent medical errors and compensate patients and their families for losses. The panel suggests creating a “health court” for medical malpractice, one that may streamline cases and reduce costs, but also may forgive errors as long as certain policies or equipment is used. This in turn would make medical errors a bigger problem. The United States’ goal should be a goal in which we not only focus on saving money but also where we offer the best care possible.
A common misconception of medical malpractice lawsuits is that they are unnecessary and are extremely unreasonable. However, recent data shows that the number of claims is actually on the decline and that the dollar amount requested has actually stabilized in the past ten years. There are many advances in health care that contribute to this decline including patient safety initiatives and improvements in health care. Large claims generally receive the most media attention but in reality they only compromise 0.3% of all claims.
LegalView has lawyers that specialize in medical malpractice. If you think you have been a victim of medical malpractice please, contact LegalView today to learn more about your options. Call 1-866-9LAW-NOW (1-866-952-9669).
Tags: Medical Malpractice
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 7th, 2010 at 11:27 am and is filed under Medical Malpractice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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