UPDATE: 6/28/11
This argument is taking a new disguise in hopes no one will notice.
Remember, tort reform does not make health care more affordable or safer.
Last evening's HBO program about the efforts of the US Chamber of Commerce and their false flag effort to make you believe that tort reform will control health care costs was certainly eye opening, even for those who have been aware of the fraud for years. This includes how a corrupt effort involving buying elections cost Justice Oliver Diaz his seat on the Mississippi bench. Big Insurance Profits Tort Reform and Corporate Greed Tort Reform Myth Corporate Agenda to Destroy Civil Justice System 'Doctors Flee' Myth Karl Rove Karl Rove 2 In Attempt to Limit Patients’ Rights, Republicans Trot Out Tired - and False - Arguments About Medical Liability Statement of Christine Hines, Consumer and Civil Justice Counsel, Public CitizenIt’s telling that before the membership of the House Judiciary Committee for the 112th Congress was even finalized, incoming chair Lamar Smith (R-Texas) scheduled a hearing on medical liability. The new House leadership apparently can’t wait to get started in pushing forward draconian measures to limit patients’ rights. It is heeding its party’s talking points without noticing the facts.
Today’s hearing, creatively called “Medical Liability Reform - Cutting Costs, Spurring Investment, Creating Jobs,” will undoubtedly dig up the same old arguments trotted out in years past to support policies that would absolve negligent medical providers of responsibility for actions that injure or kill their patients.
Despite the fact that malpractice litigation and payments are at historic lows, according to the federal government’s National Practitioner Data Bank, proponents of limiting patients’ rights continue to incorrectly blame ideas like “runaway jury awards” and “defensive medicine” for the nation’s escalating health care costs.
Of all people, Chairman Smith should know that liability limits do not curb health care costs. For example, yesterday in a FoxNews.com editorial, Chairman Smith claimed that malpractice liability limits in Texas have been a success and that they reduced health care premiums in his home state. However, according to official U.S. Census Bureau data, the state’s uninsured rate and health insurance costs have more than doubled since the state’s liability reforms took effect in 2003. Further, closing the courthouse doors to patients in Texas has not alleviated expensive medical tests. The cost of diagnostic testing in Texas (measured by per patient Medicare reimbursements) has grown 50 percent faster than the national average. Texas’ liability system is clearly not the solution for the country, much less Texas.
Bailing out negligent doctors and limiting individual patients’ rights will neither save us money nor protect patients from harm.
###
Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.citizen.org.
Selections from Natural Health News -
Sep 22, 2010
But since that law doesnot require consent before health information is shared for most purposes (including treatment, payment, and health-care operations), the modifications will fail to truly protect health privacy rights. ... Rather than tinkering around the edges modifying the weak HIPAA privacy rule (as required by the stimulus law), it's time to call on Congress to change the law to ensure that patient consent is required before personal health information is shared ...
Feb 09, 2009
HIPAA Facts *** HIPAA Patient Rights Information CODEX Alliance for Natural Health Diet and Lifestyle. American Health Freedom Doctor-Patient Confidentiality Relationship in Jeopardy. The economic stimulus bill, as currently written, ...
Mar 10, 2009
A chapter about patient's rights is included, which I cannot stress enough how important this is in today's mainstream medical venue. Reading each page in each chapter is uplifting, as well as providing good information. ...
Jun 16, 2007
If you talk to people in the corporate world they say that tort reform is a movement to bring fairness and predictability to a legal system that they consider nothing short of a form of legalized extortion. ...
Sep 26, 2006
Tort reform is always the battle cry of those who want to put profits above health and human need. At no time have I ever received a reply when I asked hospital administrators (I used to be one) and government officials about the impact ...
Jul 15, 2007
It is really not tort reform that is needed but if you might dare to suggest the problems lie elsewhere than with trial attorneys, you might find yourself out of a job. I have a lot of answers, based on the fact that I have saved a ...
Oct 26, 2007
Tort reform was a gift from the Congress to the heavy betters (sharks)on the side of the industry, freely plying their trade. Maybe you know that as "payola" if you are at least a Baby Boomer, or a better description known as buying ...
