When ever tort reform is being brought up, I keep seeing lib's post how it adds little if any cost to health care, if this is so, how come the Congressional budge office recently found that out of our 2.3 trillion health care cost last year, a whopping 500 to 700 billion was a result of patients receiving to much health care they didn't need by doctors in an attempt to ward off lawsuits and high malpractice premiums ? Below are a few other reasons health care is so expensive that liberals refuse to address.
1. State coverage mandates. Each state requires that insurers who wish to sell there comply with a huge variety of coverage mandates. In fact, there are nearly 2,000 mandates, some of which add significant costs to health insurance. Adding new mandates is a regular activity of state governments, based on the political clout of patient groups, pharmaceutical companies and others. State governments have had an important role to play in driving premium increases.
2. Guarantee issue requirements. The other thing some states have done is outlaw medical underwriting. This means that if an uninsured person gets diagnosed with an illness, he can just go out and buy an insurance policy and, for the cost of an annual premium, get all the care he needs. He can even cancel the policy after he's done being treated, and buy one again if he gets sick again. There may be valid public policy reasons to make health insurance guarantee-issue. But the reality is that insurers have to add in additional premium to account for the fact that their risk pool includes in it much more costly individuals than otherwise would. There is no free lunch.
3. Other cost-shifting. Studies show that tens of billions of dollars a year of uncompensated health care to the uninsured is provided by medical providers. They try to offset these costs by negotiating higher payment rates from private insurers. The same is true for government-funded programs. As these programs have attempted to control costs by simply paying less, providers have tried to recoup those reductions through higher fees to health plans. In each case, the ultimate cost is passed on to the consumer. Some groups think this kind of cost-shifting adds 5-10% to annual premium rates.
4. Companies kept from selling across stateliness : Liberals have consistently screamed how a handful of insurance companies have monopolized the health insurance market in some states while at the same time resisting Republican legislation which would allow insurance providers to sell across state lines hence giving consumers more options and opening the door to more competition.
There are, of course, lots of other reasons for the rapidly increasing health insurance rates. These are few of the less discussed that we ought to talk about more that liberals like to avoid.
Thanks in advance for your answers. God bless.
To those who read the whole post. Thank you for your time and patience as I know it was quite a long post.
Spock (rhp)
what the libs want is government care, not reform.
answers all your points in one sentence 8-)
qncyguy21
Because all that will do is remove accountability of bad practice, nothing more.
The bills will not be reduced.
what is increasing the costs are:
#1 insurance companies that right-wingers keep defending and
#2 people who can't pay filing bankruptcy causing financial loss to the provider who in turn raises prices to compensate in an endless spiral of higher prices causing more people to be unable to afford to pay causing even more losses and higher prices.
Tort reform is nothing but another right-wing agenda to remove business accountability to the people they wrong.
That is it, nothing more.
It is a right-wing pattern.... if a business may have to pay someone for their screw ups, the right-wing wants the amount the person can recover limited to almost nothing.
Pigeon-carcass hairpiece
Why do you continue to ignore the ineptitude of the Tort Reform that has already been passed, by both states and fed?
Cod Bless.
C B
They say tort reform will do nothing, yet there were thousands of Doctors marching last week in Washington asking for it.
Malpractice insurance in some states is o high that doctors leave in droves.
They force the states to pass tort reform by leaving, something most don't want to do but must in order to stay in business.
Obama is a Lawyer
He protects lawyers
tonalc2
Rising malpractice costs are not in sync with lawsuit awards. It's because the insurance companies want to cover their losses from bad investments.
States that have enacted so-called "tort reform" have only seen their insurance rates continue to shoot up after passing severe liability limits.
Read this Dartmouth study:
http://makethemaccountable.com/myth/RisingCostOfMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.htm
And we "scream" about selling across state lines because while it might possibly benefit very young, healthy people, the rest of us would receive massively increased premiums, since the companies would all operate from the states with the most lax regulations. Note that most major credit card companies are located in Delaware, which has the most lax regulations on banks.
justine
Money Talks so the DEMS and the LIBS will just take a walk on the above items you mentioned.
strata
'cause DEFEATOCRATS hands are in lawyer's very deep pockets
CaptainFreon
You have made many valid points... took some time to read your work, but worth the time. Being well composed did help a lot.
To get right to the answer... Liberalism is the problem. Common sense just doesn't play a role in their thinking pattern. 2010 will be a big improvement.
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Proud Texan
Tort reform is a stupid idea that only protects the wealthy. If someone makes a mistake they should be held accountable to pay for that mistake what ever a jury orders. Stop being a clown for the insurance companies and wake up to the fact that Lawyers don't get big settlements unless someone makes a big mistake.
PARVFAN
There are no kick backs that way. Peace
Orignal From: If libs want to reform health care, why do they refuse to take on lawyers & common causes increasing cost?
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