Trial Lawyer Investment Pays Dividends
Posted on: Monday, 8 May 2006, 18:06 CDT
WASHINGTON, May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a study by Health Care America, trial lawyers are reaping enormous financial returns as a result of the continued blocking of meaningful medical liability reform. During the 2003-04 federal election cycle, lawyers contributed $182 million to Congress. During this same time period, trial lawyers received more than $18 billion via medical malpractice lawsuits. This 10,000 percent rate of return was made possible by the repeated defeat of medical liability reform in the U.S. Congress.
"This is a rate of return that average Americans could only dream of," Health Care America Executive Director Sarah Berk said. "It is easy to see why trial lawyers spend millions of dollars on Congress to block reform of America's medical liability system. Their greed drives up health care costs and prevents families from accessing the care they need."
Rates of return in common indices, while high, pale in comparison to an investment in the status quo:
* Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35 percent rate of return ($245,866,836) * Nasdaq: 65 percent rate of return ($299,826,973) * S&P 500: 43 percent rate of return ($259,678,299)
"Americans support common sense reform of our medical liability system. We must make changes to stop frivolous lawsuits that line the pockets of personal injury lawyers, raise health care costs and decrease quality," said Berk.
In a Winston Group survey, 69 percent said they were in favor of medical liability reform. Looking behind the number, 64 percent believe that medical liability reform would lower health care costs. Furthermore, 63 percent thought that the increasing number of medical malpractice lawsuits against doctors was making their health care worse.
According to a 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers study commissioned by America's Health Insurance Plans, 10 percent of the cost of health care premiums is attributable to medical liability and defensive medicine costs. Any reduction in these costs will increase access and improve quality.
One of Health Care America's own Advisory Board members is an example of how these costs impact the quality of care. Dr. Kurt Kooyer co-founded the Delta Care Rural Health Center in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, one of the most medically underserved areas in the country. The Center provided care to poor rural patients of the Delta, many of whom lacked health insurance. In 2000, in recognition for his work, the National Perinatal Association presented Dr. Kooyer with their Individual Recognition Award. However, due to frivolous lawsuits and rising medical malpractice insurance premiums (in one year alone Kooyer's premium went up 85 percent), Kooyer was forced to leave the state and Mississippi lost one of its most compassionate and skilled physicians.
At the time he was forced to leave Mississippi, Kooyer told Medical Economics, "I don't care to practice any longer in a state where so many people are willing to behave unethically just because it benefits them financially. When you have patients who sue even though there's nothing wrong with them and lawyers who sue doctors who they know have done nothing wrong, that's a departure from personal ethics. It's not so much a crisis of tort as it is a crisis of character."
"It is absurd that at a time when Americans are losing access to health insurance due to rising costs, trial lawyers continue to milk the system for billions of dollars," Berk said. "Congress needs the courage to say no to trial lawyers."
Health Care America is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization devoted to improving access and affordability to health care for all Americans. Support for Health Care America is provided by a diverse and growing list of companies, organizations and individuals with experience in health care. For more information visit http://www.fightingforfamilies.org/
Health Care America
CONTACT: Bill Pierce of Health Care America, +1-202-659-7931
Web Site: http://www.fightingforfamilies.org/
Source: PRNewswire
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