U.S. District Judge Frederico Moreno must decide whether to grant class-action status to some 650,000 physicians who a group of powerful trial lawyers assert have been cheated by various health insurance companies they contend violated federal racketeering and consumer protection laws. In a separate consolidated lawsuit, patients who pay for private or company health benefits are also seeking certification as a class. But there can be no doubt that the prize for them would come from the millions, perhaps billions, they stand to gain personally if they convince the judge to certify the class.
Certification is their key to large settlements.
The threat of a multibillion-dollar verdict would send the companies behind closed doors to conclude the cases, probably with terms not disclosed. What is happening in Miami is based on the lawyers' arrogant presumption that forcing change through litigation is good for the country. Their motivation should strike alarm in anyone who believes in representative government, because the lawyers would substitute their public policy preferences for those of elected officials accountable to the people. What these lawyers want, besides to line their pockets, is to override the processes of delivering health care in this country as they currently exist. They have taken the position that because lawmakers have refused to tackle the problems endemic in the system, they will do it.