AFAIK, the massive awards are supposed to be punitive in nature rather than for restitution of actual damages. But if the giant awards are being paid by malpractice insurance providers rather than the doctor, who is really being punished by the punitive award? Answer--consumers of healthcare.
I'm all in favor of restitution of actual damages. I sat on a jury trial where a little girl was thrown from a car and paralyzed from the neck down as a result. The parents sued everyone they could, including Chrysler. Their expert witnesses testified that a fair judgment amount would be on the order of $3M to $6M, which would cover her living expenses and medical care needs for life. Meanwhile, two recent cases in Maryland awarded $21M and $55M. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/20...ice-gary-wais-national-practitioner-data-bank A 2010 survey done for the American Medical Association found that more than 60 percent of doctors had been sued by the time they were 55, and among obstetrician/gynecologists and surgeons it was 70 percent. Among the suits, 65 percent were dropped or dismissed and 5 percent went to trial. Defendants prevailed 90 percent of the time. Doctors and hospitals said they are bracing for a trickle-down effect of more lawsuits and rising malpractice insurance rates because of the recent judgments. They argue that malpractice costs could become so burdensome that doctors would decide to stop working in certain locations and specialties. "Hospitals who provide medical care to high-risk patients — particularly obstetrical patients — are questioning how much longer they will be able to continue providing that care in Baltimore City," said Mary Lynn Carver, a spokeswoman for the University of Maryland Medical Center, in an email.
I never said they were. It's the insurance companies and Steven Hemsley's Bloated salary that he got every penny from denial of care. Insurance companies are against a Public option because they know that they won't be able to compete. They know their CEOs and Stockholders won't make as much money. To the second point, what happens when you lose your job? What then? You don't deserve healthcare if you aren't employed? I also don't believe that at all.
Insurance companies have no reason to deny legitimate claims. They don't deny them for auto insurance or life insurance. The claims for life insurance are 100% guaranteed to happen, too. It is just plain batshit crazy to confuse health insurance with health care. http://www.walmart.com/cp/Walmart-Clinics/1078904 Get Well Stay Well visits at these clinics are $65 or less. Health insurance that provides a $50 co-pay will cost you $400+ a month. The doctor owned/run clinic up the street from me charges $115 for the first visit and $70 for each successive visit in a year. If you're worried about getting sick and going bankrupt because of the medical bills: http://www.catastrophic-health-insurance.org/costs-of-catastrophic-health.php A catastrophic plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida for a nonsmoking 21-year-old female, with a $250 deductible and $2,500 out-of-pocket limit after exceeding the deductible, costs $29 per month.
Sorry, I'll take a public option (on it's way and there's nothing you can do about it) and Subsidized healthcare. It costs us WAY less as a country. Oregon, California, Montana, and Vermont all have Single payer plans ready to go. Let's see what happens in 2014.
To me, this has always been the crux of the issue. You believe that just because someone is unemployed, it doesn't mean that they don't deserve healthcare. I believe that nobody deserves healthcare, at all.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottatlas/2012/10/11/what-do-actual-doctors-think-about-obamacare-now/ What Do Actual Doctors Think About Obamacare Now? Meanwhile, contrary to those doctors selected to legitimize ObamaCare in the staged media event (where the White House actually handed out white lab coats to generate the image of official credibility), an overwhelming 70 percent of doctors said, even back in 2011, that they disagreed with the AMA’s position on health reform, while only 13 percent agreed with it. In fact, almost half of doctors in that survey even went so far as to say that the AMA stance on ObamaCare was the factor causing them to drop AMA membership. This past February, 60 percent of more than 5,000 doctors surveyed said the Obama health law would have a negative impact on patient care, while only 22 percent thought it would be positive. And more than half thought it would have a negative impact on their relationships with patients, while only 11 percent thought the doctor-patient relationship would be better. A startling 43 percent said the health care reform itself would likely lead them to retire over the next 5 years, and only 37 percent said that was an unlikely consequence of this law. It is worth repeating that sentiment to understand the impact of ObamaCare – it is viewed as being so destructive that almost half of doctors said they would “likely” soon retire directly because of the law itself. Last month, in answer to the question “Which of the following best describes your feelings about the ACA?” 55 percent of more than 3,000 doctors chose “repeal and replace” whereas 40 percent said “implement and improve” it. But perhaps the most impressive statement of all is found in looking at the doctors’ voting intentions. Votes for Governor Romney trounced those for President Obama by 19 percentage points (55 to 36 percent), with only 5 percent undecided.
"Fuck you, you get single payer whether you like it or not." Medicare is single payer. http://jacksonville.com/business/columnists/2012-10-03/story/doctors-are-leaving-medicaid-medicare According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the United States will be short nearly 63,000 doctors by 2015. By 2025, that figure could double. Medical schools are producing one primary care doctor for every two needed. Nearly a third of doctors refuse to accept new Medicaid patients, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The government pays below-market rates for Medicaid patients — between 34 and 42 percent below what doctors receive from privately insured patients. Some doctors lose money on every Medicaid beneficiary they see. By expanding the program to cover one in four Americans, Obamacare will only exacerbate this state of affairs. It’s no wonder that doctors are pessimistic about the law’s impact on health care. Half believe that hospital closures caused by Obamacare will reduce access to care. And 83 percent of physicians foresee increased wait times for primary care appointments. Forty-nine percent of doctors under the age of 40 report that Obamacare will negatively impact their practices. Some 43 percent of all doctors are thinking about retiring in the next five years — thanks in large part to the headaches created by health reform.
Yes, the original post is a great argument for doctors being scared of lawsuits and deciding not to work in certain locations and specialties. Insurance companies are doing something right if society reads that story and the discussion turns into doctors have too much burden on them and lawsuits are ruining the medical profession.
