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The Impact of Legal Reform
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“The success experienced by those states that have adopted
reforms, [such as capping non-economic damages, informing
the jury if a plaintiff also has another source of payment
for the injury such as health insurance] shows that these
reforms could reduce malpractice premiums 34 percent. The
savings to the federal government resulting from reduced
malpractice premiums would be $1.68 billion”.
(KRC:
HHS Report, "Confronting ...",
p. 19, citing analysis from the Council of Economic
Advisors, July 2002.)
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“Doctors had to pay a whopping $6 billion in medical liability
premiums in 2001, with premiums increasing in 2002 by more
than 20 percent on average and by more than 75 percent for
specialties in some states. Health care providers in states
without reasonable limits on non-economic damages have
experienced the largest increases, between 36 percent and
113 percent in 2002 alone.”
(The White
House, January 2003)
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“The leading study estimates that limiting unreasonable
awards for non-economic damages could reduce health care
costs by 5-9% without adversely affecting quality of care.28
This would save $60-108 billion in health care costs each
year. These savings would lower the cost of health insurance
and permit an additional 2.4-4.3 million Americans to obtain
insurance.”
(KRC:
HHS Report, "Confronting ...", p. 7)
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“If reasonable limits were placed on non-economic damages to
reduce defensive medicine, it would reduce the amount of
taxpayers ’money the Federal Government spends by $25.3-44.3
billion per year. This is a very significant amount. It
would more than fund a prescription drug benefit for
Medicare beneficiaries and help uninsured Americans obtain
coverage through a refundable health credit.”
(KRC:
HHS Report, "Confronting ...", p. 7)
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"As a result of California’s reforms, claims are
settled
33 percent faster there than the rest of the nation, and
injured patients in California take home significantly
higher percentages of their awards."
(Richard E. Anderson, M.D., The Doctors
Company for the Physician Insurers Association of America,
July 17, 2002.)
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Medical Liability
Reform - NOW!
A compendium of
facts supporting medical liability reform
and debunking
arguments against reform.
The
American Medical Association has compiled
a 72-page compendium that provides a more
comprehensive resource on the subject of medical
liability and healthcare than does this Speaker's
Resource. If you need additional information,
this is the place to start.
The
report includes a very useful state-by-state review
of liability statutes (though not complete) as well
as an 11-page index at the back of the report.
Download the June 14, 2005 Edition PDF
The AMA
periodically updates this report and you can
possibly download a more recent version using this
link. As of August 16, 2005, the June 14th
edition is the most current.
Link to the AMA Website for Current Edition |
Healthcare Crisis Contents
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