After being absent for a few days I really should read ahead before replying to old posts. Below pretty much covers my thoughts.
Jeff Miles [email protected] Join my Mafia http://apps.facebook.com/inthemafia/status_invite.php?from=550968726 On Mar 1, 2010, at 8:18 AM, b_s-wilk wrote: > Fred Holmes escribió: >>> And I'm sure you're not one of those uneducated who will bring up the lack >>> of tort reform as a reason for high insurance costs. >> So how much does liability insurance / damage claims add to the cost of >> healthcare? As a percentage of overall costs? > > The main problem with high insurance costs for consumers is that medical > practitioners are not policing themselves, and states don't police them > either until too many patients are harmed. In too many cases, incompetent > doctors who maim or kill patients, and bad hospitals, are still in business > when they should be shut down and have medical licenses taken away. That > could reduce insurance costs for everybody. > > However, when Republicans talk about tort reform, they want to limit the > ability of patients who have been injured due to medical incompetence to have > their cases ineligible for hearings or trials. This injures more patients > without solving the problem, while also hurting the lawyers who file > legitimate cases, in effect, further denying coverage in multiple ways. "Tort > reform" in the US is a euphemism for keeping Democratic lawyers from helping > injured patients, solely because they're not Republican. > > The liability and damage claims as a percentage of overall costs is less than > 5%. The biggest health insurance cost to consumers from private for-profit > companies is "overhead"--which is about 2-3% for Medicare, around 10% for > private non-profits, and 20-30% for the for-profit companies. The for-profit > companies made bad investments and raised premiums to make up for that, too. > So "tort reform" makes minimal difference when compared to having nonprofit > health insurance. After all, it's immoral to profit from others' illnesses > and misfortunes, so why do many health health insurance executives have > multi-million dollar salaries and benefits, and insurance companies have > billion dollar profits? > > That's what causes high premiums, not a trumped up "need" for tort reform. > > > ************************************************************************* > ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** > ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** > ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
