Michael Hiltzik in his Los Angeles Times (9/20, Hiltzik, 4M) “The Economy Hub” blog writes that the “tort reform law,” which is “usually billed as an answer to frivolous malpractice lawsuits” accounts for about 2.9% of healthcare spending, according to a new study done by Michael B. Rothberg of the Cleveland Clinic and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Aaron Carroll of AcademyHealth blog said that “any tort reform stringent enough to make [savings] go away would likely create other costs” and therefore “there seems little reason to pursue it as a means to dramatically reduce health care spending.” Hiltzik writes that conservative healthcare pundit Avik Roy’s objective of “malpractice reform,” has “no legitimate economic reason for this punitive approach,” as it won’t change the direction of “healthcare costs” or account for any savings.
