Organization: Penn State University
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 08:45:03 EDT
From: <DGS4@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.politics.bush
Subject: Re: Bush/Quayle's Health Plan -- vouchers?
 <1992Sep11.171833.24461@gtephx.UUCP> <92257.095439DGS4@psuvm.psu.edu>
 <1992Sep14.074624.1717@nntp.uoregon.edu>

In article <1992Sep14.074624.1717@nntp.uoregon.edu>, eisimps@cie.uoregon.edu
(Eileen Simpson) says:
>
>In article <92257.095439DGS4@psuvm.psu.edu> <DGS4@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>>In article <1992Sep11.171833.24461@gtephx.UUCP>, forda@gtephx.UUCP (Andrew   d
>For
>>@ AGCS, Phoenix, Arizona) says:
>>
>>>A real-world case: my wife's OB/GYN made about $80,000 / year
>>>(5 years ago).  His malpractice insurance was $120,000 per year.
>>>Over half of his $1,500 delivery fee was for malpractice insurance.
>>
>>????? Data from the AMA shows that the average OB/GYN paid liability
>>insurance premiums of about $10,000 in 1980 (Sorry, that's the
>>most recent data I have at home).  In recent years, since 1985 or
>>so, malpractice premiums have dropped.  There are problems in
>>particularly specialties, OB/GYN and anesthesia, for example, but
>>to blame America's health care problems on malpractice insurance is
>>to ignore the facts.  The data indicate that it's a minor portion
>>of the problem.
>>
>
>It's hard for me to believe the figure for malpractice insurance is
>accurate.  The cost of insurance of anesthesiologists and OB/GYN is very
>high, and can exceed $100,000 a year in some parts of the country.

The number is available in the AMA publication Socioeconomic Status of
the Profession, if you want to look it up for yourself.  Remember it is
the 1980 figure.  If you just inflate it by 10 percent per year (roughly
the average inflation rate of all physician costs) then the 1992 average
would be about $30,000.  Malpractice costs rose faster than overall costs
in the early 1980s but slower in the late 1980s.  It's not unreasonable to
believe that that Eastern urban areas would show rates 3 to 4 times the
average.  However, the malpractice "crisis" isn't the source of all
problems in our health care system.  It is a problem in certain areas of
the country for certain specialties.

I have seen a survey (I'll see if I can recall the reference) which studied
physicians beliefs about the liklihood of being sued.  Most physicians
over-estimated the liklihood that they would be sued by a large amount.

>The costs of litigation certainly affect the health care system and both
>doctors and drug companies.  However, it is unreasonable to think that just
>removing lawsuits will bring meaningful improvement to the system.
>
>The problem is that the medical profession doesn't police itself, and, when
>it does, the states let the offending doctor move on with no problem.  Drug
>companies routinely disregard or misreport dangers (Dalkon Shield, breast
>implants are two recent examples).
>
>When you have people receiving permanent injuries that will require
>lifetime care, in a fee-for-service system, and there is no effective
>policing system to prevent existing abuses, it would be a disaster to give
>either the medical profession or drug companies protection from tort.
>
>The tort system operates to spread the cost of injury thru the system to
>remove the effect on the individual.  If there is no replacement system,
>there will be intolerable results in the form of malpractice and drug
>company abuses.
>
>In my opinion, we need to get both the trial lawyers and the providers out
>of the way and talk about a responsible public policy that protects all the
>legitimate interests of consumers and the public.  None of the providers or
>the lawyers are talking about anything that even comes close to that
>standard.
>
Dennis G. Shea, Penn State
<<DISCLAIMER>>
Ain't nobody's bizness but my own. I'll be happy to accept all
the credit for anything I've written.  It's funny, however, how
employers only acknowledge the profitable ideas.
Xref: sparky alt.politics.bush:4833 alt.politics.clinton:5053 alt.politics.perot:1446 rec.humor:28453 talk.bizarre:29831 talk.politics.misc:45027