legal costs are not at the root of the recent increase in malpractice

[rodeodance]

insurance premiums.

this is what Kerry/Edwards said on the campaign trail--but the Bush machine was noiser!!!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/22/business/22insure.html?


February 22, 2005
Behind Those Medical Malpractice Rates
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER and JOEL BRINKLEY

Speaking before hundreds of doctors and medical workers in a St. Louis suburb last month, President Bush called attention to a neurosurgeon on stage with him in the small auditorium. The doctor, the president said, was paying $265,000 a year in premiums for insurance against malpractice claims.

Such high prices, "don't start in an examining room or an operating room," the president declared. "They start in a courtroom."

Indeed, at many recent appearances, Mr. Bush has complained about the "skyrocketing" costs of "junk lawsuits" against doctors and hospitals........

But for all the worry over higher medical expenses, legal costs do not seem to be at the root of the recent increase in malpractice insurance premiums. Government and industry data show only a modest rise in malpractice claims over the last decade. And last year, the trend in payments for malpractice claims against doctors and other medical professionals turned sharply downward, falling 8.9 percent, to a nationwide total of $4.6 billion, according to data compiled by the Health and Human Services Department........

[bullimiami]

1. anyone with half a brain knows it starts in the boardroom

and ends up with big profits for the insurance, pharmacutical and big medical industries and misery for everyone else, patient and doctor alike.

[merh]

2. Sure -- if we had a real media, they would have reported during the

campaign and while the weed was thumping his "tort reform" that
Number 1:
Does the weed's disdain for lawyers stem from his failure to gain admittance into law school? (I love that personal touch)

and

BIG NUMBER 2:
In June of 2003, the Government Accounting Office released the government study conducted on Medical Malpractice. The report "Medical Malpractice Insurance: Multiple Factors Have Contributed to Increased Premium Rates" found that poor management of money and the bad market resulted in the increase in premiums. The report debunked the myth about tort reform - just no one in the media cared to publish an article on this, since it wasn't part of the admin's talking points.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/useftp.cgi?IPaddress=162.140.64.21&filename=d03702.txt&directory=/diskb/wais/data/gao

PDF version: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/useftp.cgi?IPaddress=162.140.64.21&filename=d03702.pdf&directory=/diskb/wais/data/gao

Medical Malpractice Insurance: Multiple Factors Have Contributed to Increased Premium Rates (27-JUN-03, GAO-03-702). Over the past several years, large increases in medical malpractice insurance premium rates have raised concerns that physicians will no longer be able to afford malpractice insurance and will be forced to curtail or discontinue providing certain services. Additionally, a lack of profitability has led some large insurers to stop selling medical malpractice insurance, furthering concerns that physicians will not be able to obtain coverage. To help Congress better understand the reasons behind the rate increases, GAO undertook a study to (1) describe the extent of the increases in medical malpractice insurance rates, (2) analyze the factors that contributed to those increases, and (3) identify changes in the medical malpractice insurance market that might make this period of rising premium rates different from previous such periods. -------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- REPORTNUM: GAO-03-702 ACCNO: A07395 TITLE: Medical Malpractice Insurance: Multiple Factors Have Contributed to Increased Premium Rates DATE: 06/27/2003 SUBJECT: Insurance premiums Malpractice (medical) Physicians California Florida Minnesota Mississippi Nevada Texas Pennsylvania

http://frwebgate5.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=094653401671+0+2+0&WAISaction=retrieve

[flamin lib]

3. During his governorship of Texas Bush presided over more

executions than the rest of the industrialized world combined. Every one of them was the result of trial by jury where 12 people made the decision that the defendant was guilty and then made the second decision to take the defendant's life.

If Bush is so convinced that a jury of 12 people can make a life and death decision, why is it that the same jury is not capable of offering a fair judgment of monetary damages?

[merh]

5. Very good point - I only wish the "liberal" media would ask that

type of question.

BTW, Welcome to DU! :hi:

[rodeodance]

7. yes, very good point!!

[demosincebirth]

4. In CA. we have had...

Medical Malpractice reform since the 70's and guess what? Ca. probably has the highest medical costs in the country.

[flamin lib]

6. I've researched the malpractice issue and several states have

had commissions as well as industry studies. Industry studies invariably call for tort reform, state studies invariably call for insurance reform.

Go figure . . .

[rodeodance]

8. 'Industry' profits rule in the Bush Adm--(coal, energy, drug, etc etc)

[demosincebirth]

9. I know, how do a few educate 53% of the voters about the lies this

administration spoon feeds them.

[struggle4progress]

10. kick