Rising Doctors' Premiums NOT Due to Lawsuit Awards
Upitatanium
03-06-2005, 02:16
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2005/06/01/rising_doctors_premiums_not_due_to_lawsuit_awards/
Study suggests insurers raise rates to make up for investment declines.
Re-igniting the medical malpractice overhaul debate, a new study by Dartmouth College researchers suggests that huge jury awards and financial settlements for injured patients have not caused the explosive increase in doctors' insurance premiums.
The researchers said a more likely explanation for the escalation is that malpractice insurance companies have raised doctors' premiums to compensate for falling investment returns.
Is it time for a public health care in the USA...NOW???
Ravenshrike
03-06-2005, 02:58
To suggest that the reason for healthcare being as expensive as it is because of a single factor is beyond the absurd. It has to do with the AMA, HMO's, lawsuits and jury awards, as well as idiot insurance companies. The single biggest factor for expensive healthcare is supply and demand. The supply of doctors is rather sparse compared to the population. The single biggest reason for this is the American Medical Association. They limit the supply in two ways. Firstly, they limit the number of successful med school applicants each year. Secondly they build a lot of what can be termed fluff into a med student's education. Each med student when he finishes the first bit of med school is a general practitioner. Included in this is a lot of stuff that will probably never really be used in that doctor's specialization. If they removed that there would be a greater supply because they would finish med school earlier.
Niccolo Medici
03-06-2005, 03:04
No. Lawsuit Awards invariably cause the Doctors' Premiums to go up, and cutting taxes invariably "boosts" the economy.
Just take it on faith. Don't look into it too hard, SOME people are trying to pass legislation here that will put money in their pockets. Be a dear and look elsewhere.
Bahamamamma
03-06-2005, 06:04
It is balogna that lawsuits are responsible for driving up doc's premiums overall.
Where are all these huge awards? Most malpractice awards are meant to pay for damage done by a truly and grossly negligent doctor, not make the plaintiff rich. The injured plaintiff has to pay for medical care from that award for the rest of their life!
Insurance companies routinely have about a 60% profit margin. Not many industries can say that!
Our lack of a government controlled health care system is the reason we draw many of the best and brightest doctors from Europe and the East to the US. They can make money in the US where they can't at home.
The US has the best healthcare to offer as long as you are either rich enough or poor enough.
What to do with the middle class? Why did we not have this problem back in the 50's and 60's? Was it because HMO's and PPO's etc etc didn't yet exist?