I got gabbing with my general practitioner & found some interesting facts about medical cost. About 15% of his bill to me is to cover his medical insurance cost for him to operate his business. In higher risk medical fields such as anesthesiologists the cost for malpractice insurance may cost the patient as much as 25% of the entire bill!
Add in the cost of either or BOTH the hospital &/or the clinic(s) in ADDITION to the cost of your physician(s) & you may be paying 25% percent of your bill to insurance companies. WORSE... add in the cost of the building/structure insurance, vehicle insurance for the hospitals, payroll insurance for medical staff employees(state industrial) & your bill may contain up to 30% of it's cost to you in insurance costs!!! Then on top of this add in the cost of medical insurance for the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals which is always high.
In 2008 attorneys DONATED 233 million dollars...
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2009/08/06/the_high_cost_of_medical_malpractice_97346.html
...to politicians standing for office. 78% of these 'donations' went to demmie politicians & 23% to their repubie brothers. I would like to see both a ban on candidates that hold a law degree in publicly elected office(ANYONE can make a law!), save for the judicial end of government, plus physicians & the entire medical community be made immune by legislation to any & all lawsuits, period! The legal field is as corrupt as any field or profession can be as evidenced by capital hill & the attorneys that fill the seats of that institution.
Besides my ideas, what would you suggest to get the price of medical cost down?
hwinnum
Tort reform is desperately needed. While it isn't a good idea to make doctors and other medical facilities immune from all lawsuits, there needs to be a cap on punitive damages, and a higher standard for fault to be found. As it is now, doctors also practice defensive medicine, which means they order more tests than may be necessary, just to cover their a**es in case they do get sued.
I agree with you that lawyers are mostly trouble. There are only a few that are actually concerned with justice as opposed to winning at any cost.
who is #1?
The foolproof way to reduce medical costs is to eliminate 3d party payers. If people had to pay our own bills the cost would follow a similar trend as the housing market: finding its true value, which is defined as the price point where people could afford to buy it.
I do not agree that the medical industry should be immune from legal repercussions. If you can't sue to recoup damages, what's your recourse? On the other hand, the legal professions have attached themselves to productive enterprises like leeches and we should do something about that. "Loser pays" has been suggested and overseas it has proven effective against frivolous lawsuits. Class action lawsuits only benefit lawyers, so should be greatly restricted by law.
As for politicians, if we just prohibited lawyers and anyone from Harvard or Yale from holding public office, we'd be way ahead.
touch of reality
I think that anyone who files a frivolous lawsuit that they loose should have to pay for the lawyer of the winning party. This would cut down on lawsuits.
Orignal From: Medical insurance why is it so high for medical practitioners?
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