Do Malpractice Suits Drive Medical Costs Up

27 Mar Do Malpractice Suits Drive Medical Costs Up

A white paper released by the Center for Progressive Reform finds that tort reform will not provide any significant savings in healthcare, according to a report on Healthcare Payer News. In fact, according to the article, the white paper found that the cost of malpractice insurance and the lawsuits that patient’s file against negligent doctors account for only 0.3 percent of annual healthcare costs.

The white paper claims that the real costs of healthcare emanate from high prices for prescription drugs and an increase in the amount of chronic diseases. Additionally, people are enjoying longer life spans these days and that means that healthcare inevitably costs more as these older individuals require treatment for their conditions.

One of the typical arguments given to support the position that malpractice lawsuits end up driving up the costs of medical care for everyone is based on the idea that doctors perform some procedures simply to avoid being sued for negligence. The white paper found that, contrary to this assertion, family pressure, the fact that the technology exists to even perform those procedures and the doctor’s own financial motivations oftentimes play into why some procedures are ordered.

Among the ways that trial lawyers have been blamed for driving up the costs of healthcare is by requiring doctors to purchase expensive malpractice insurance and, thereby, to have a need to pass on the cost to their patients. The white paper found that, if there were restrictions on malpractice litigation that brought about a 10 percent reduction in the costs of malpractice premiums, the end result would only be a 0.1 percent reduction in the total cost of healthcare.

A host of other findings seem to cast doubt on the idea that malpractice lawsuits end up driving up the cost of healthcare in any significant way. In fact, according to information published in the white paper, over 80 percent of the physicians in practice between 1990 and 2005 made no payments related to malpractice. It additionally found that almost 60 percent of all of the malpractice payments made were made by approximately 6 percent of doctors. The statistics also revealed that, between 1991 and 2003, the number of malpractice claims per physician actually dropped.

If you believe that you have been the victim of physician negligence, contact a medical malpractice lawyer. On an individual level, this is sometimes the only way that a victim of medical malpractice can recover financially.