Universal Healthcare Drops Malpractice Costs
March 24, 2023
Happy Friday Healthcare Advocates
I am so thankful for all of you and for the actions you take to move us towards a universal healthcare system. I want to remind all of you to use the comment button at the bottom to send research topics (or helpful suggestions).
Good News
Medicaid Expansion in North Carolina
After many years of refusing to do so North Carolina reversed previous decisions and has chosen to expand Medicaid and now 600,000 residents will have health insurance. (Link)
Abortion Care Rights Restored in New Hampshire
Reproductive rights advocates won several victories Thursday in the State House, as the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted to protect abortion rights under state law and remove civil and criminal penalties for doctors from the state’s 24-week ban. Lawmakers also overwhelmingly rejected bills that would have placed new restrictions on abortion. (Link)
Abortion Care in New Mexico
One of the largest independent abortion providers in the nation opened a new clinic in New Mexico on Thursday, nearly nine months after it shuttered its clinics in Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Whole Woman’s Health of New Mexico opened its Albuquerque clinic on Thursday. The clinic is expected to see 19 patients over the next few days, with 18 of them coming from Texas. (Link)
Effects of Universal Healthcare on Malpractice Insurance
Putting Universal Healthcare into operation is complicated. That doesn’t mean it is to be avoided but it does mean that one has to pay attention to the details and how the stakeholders are affected. Remember that the Universal Healthcare under discussion in the US is “Single Payer”. That’s where the government owns the insurance pool and pays claims. One way to think about it is public payment to private providers.
One set of stakeholders is doctors. We are a litigious society. As a result medical providers purchase medical malpractice insurance to protect themselves from the financial effects of lawsuits.
The premiums for this kind of insurance can vary wildly and are based on location, specialty, policy coverage, and claims history, the usual things that are taken into account when determining premiums.
Policies usually cover things like attorney fees, court costs, arbitration fees, settlements, punitive and compensatory damages, and medical damages. Attorney fees are often ⅓ the cost of any settlement or more and a large part of other payments are to repair damage, if possible, and to cover future related medical claims.
Here are some samples based on a recent survey.
Internal Medicine
$ 8274 California (Los Angeles/Orange Counties)
$41,272 Illinois (Cook, Madison, St Clair)
$51,535 Florida (Miami-Dade County)
General Surgery
$ 41,175 California (Los Angeles/Orange Counties)
$120,258 Illinois (Cook, Madison, St Clair)
$205,380 Florida (Miami-Dade County)
Ob-Gyn
$ 49,804 California (Los Angeles/Orange Counties)
$179,497 Illinois (Cook, Madison, St Clair)
$205,380 Florida (Miami-Dade County)
Quite a variation, but not cheap. But the system feeds on itself and makes itself more expensive.
From an attorney’s website: Another effect of high insurance premiums is the practice of defensive medicine. If lawsuits are possible doctors and nurses often order additional tests or perform procedures that are not necessary but are expected by the patient. This ensures that they keep the patient happy and avoid a potential lawsuit. While this may protect the doctors, it does lead to an increased cost in resources because they begin to get used up at a quicker rate.
When Universal Healthcare is in place there is no attorney needed and the medical payments for claims and future medical are covered because the patient already has coverage. As a result countries that have universal healthcare have malpractice premiums that are around $2000/year.
Tell your representatives you want Universal Healthcare. They will do it if enough of us let them know over, and over, and over
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The price of medical malpractice insurance varies greatly in the US. It can be over $200,000 in the Miami area for a basic surgeon or ob-gyn. Much of the cost of the premiums is the attorney bills and the cost of future medical payments. This adds dramatically to the cost of health care. Additionally, many doctors practice defensive medicine ordering medically unnecessary tests and procedures to protect themselves from lawsuits and to keep patients happy. This also drives up costs.
If we had universal healthcare almost all of these costs would be removed from the system. Premiums in industrialized countries with universal healthcare are just a couple of thousand dollars/year.
We strongly support universal healthcare and want you to actively support it as well.
Resources
Contact White House or other federal agencies: usa.gov/federal-agencies
Contact the White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Contact State and Federal Representatives
https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative/change-your-address
Contact all members of Congress
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: democracy.io
By US mail: Representatives / Senators
By fax: Representatives / Senators
By Resistbot: Resist.bot
And here's an interesting data set if you scroll down. It shows where people travel from and to in order to get better quality healthcare. We are one of the below average areas for quality of healthcare. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/03/24/cruises-covid-politics/
Alan, ResistBot is very cool! I just signed it and sent an invite to Janet.