Oh the trouble with health care is liberal lawyers chasing personal injury clients, say the coffee shop ideologues of the Republican Party. Tort Reform. Tort Reform. Sloganeering to suck votes from the fired up and uninformed, and juice donations.
Republican tort reform would reduce total U.S. health care spending by only 0.5 percent but destroy liability as we know it. And forty percent of that meager trade-off is a reduction in clinic insurance costs —a cynical favor to well-heeled donors.
“Yes, 40% of the savings just lands in the pockets of docs via premium reductions. Good news for Jaguar dealers, not a lot of bend in the cost curve for anyone else.”
Texas was first to stall medical lawsuits. Gingrich and Republican pulpiteers of polling claimed health care would enjoy a boom. Results are in. Destroying redress fails.
“The Odd Logic of Tort Reform” by Aaron Carroll. “Do you see the increase in coverage? I ask, because I can’t. This claim is actually laughable, because Texas as a state has the highest level of uninsurance in the US.
“Some people believe – just know – that reducing malpractice awards will lead to fewer lawsuits which will lead to a reduction in premiums which will lead to a reduction in defensive medicine which will lead to a reduction in health care costs. It’s a matter of faith. It has to be, because there’s just not that much evidence it will happen.”