In a column in the Kansas City Star, Dan Margolies wrote, “The push for tort reform rests largely on anecdotal evidence of the occasional large jury verdict or outrageous lawsuit. Despite the perception that ‘jackpot justice’ has fueled soaring costs, hard data yield a much different picture. The most reliable estimates peg the costs of malpractice litigation at 2 percent of overall health care costs.” Margolies comments, “a tort system run amok is, at best, only a small contributor to the nation’s health care costs.”
In a column in the Green Bay Press Gazette, Darryl Fagin wrote, “Congress faces half-a-dozen complex bills to address the inequity and soaring cost of health care in America. ‘Tort reform’ would add one more controversial and peripheral issue to the mix. More important is to keep the focus on equity and affordability, in the face of armies of lobbyists for insurance and pharmaceutical companies who are seeking to shape the final bill to suit their interests, rather than the public interest.” The dirty little secret “is that even when states have capped medical malpractice awards, and malpractice suits have dwindled to near zero, insurance companies have not reduced the premiums they charge doctors.”
From the American Association for Justice news release.
