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The Diagnosis & Cure for a Broken Liability System
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The Symptoms
Across the nation, patient access to quality medical care is threatened. Medical lawsuit abuse is forcing good doctors to cut back on high-risk services, relocate to states with more patient-friendly laws, or leave the practice of medicine altogether. As a result, in many states doctors are harder and harder to find – especially in specialties such as OB-GYN, neurosurgery and emergency medicine.
Defensive medicine is a top area of waste and in the health care system and drives up costs for all Americans. More than 90% of physicians say they have ordered unnecessary tests and procedures because of the fear of litigation. While estimates vary widely, the cost of defensive medicine has been reported to be between $46 billion and $191 billion annually.
The Diagnosis
Our nation’s medical liability system is broken. Abuse of the system is staggering. Roughly 70% of all cases are withdrawn, or dismissed for being without merit. But even frivolous cases cost time and money.
Powerful personal injury lawyers have created a system that benefits lawyers, not patients. Through massive campaign contributions and their powerful special interest lobbying efforts, the plaintiff’s bar has succeeded in blocking federal medical liability reform. Attorney’s fees, which can be upwards of 40% of an award, have provided a strong incentive to preserve the status quo.
The Cure
Comprehensive federal medical liability reform will help control health care costs and ensure patient access to quality medical care. There is strong bipartisan agreement among patients, physicians, health care policy experts, policy makers, opinion leaders, the media and the public that reform is necessary.
There are state models of reform that work and can be replicated at the federal level. Laws that include unlimited payment for lost wages and medical care – past, present and future – and place reasonable limits on non-economic damages, will help end medical lawsuit abuse. Key provisions of PPN’s reforms include:
- Preserving health care access by restoring stability and predictability to the medical liability system;
- Awarding more money to patients, not lawyers;
- Ensuring patients’ long term needs are met;
- Assigning responsibility based on fault, not “deep pockets;”
- Halting double recovery.
The Health Coalition on Liability and Access (HCLA), along with its grassroots network, Protect Patients Now (PPN), is committed to educating patients, physicians, policy makers, opinion and business leaders about medical lawsuit abuse and the need to enact federal medical liability reform. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]