XPost: alt.autos.toyota, rec.autos.driving, alt.society.liberalism   
   XPost: alt.fan.michael-moore   
   From: scharf.steven@geemail.com   
      
   On 8/12/2012 2:44 PM, Jeff Strickland wrote:   
      
   > America spends more per capita because if the doctor prescribes a   
   > Bandaid, and the adhesive sticks too hard, the patient will sue.   
      
   This sort of thing is brought up endlessly by people on the right, but   
   the reality is that malpractice awards and malpractice insurance are a   
   tiny part of healthcare costs. They'll find an egregious example of a   
   malpractice award, often without understanding the case at all, and   
   proclaim that tort reform will fix the health care system. If you end   
   the ability to sue for malpractice the results will be far worse than an   
   insurance company having to pay a few frivolous claims. Personal injury   
   lawsuits have been declining for years.   
      
   According to the Congressional Budget Office, medical malpractice   
   amounted to less than 2 percent of overall health care spending. Even 2   
   percent is too much if the entire 2 percent were frivolous awards, but   
   of course that's not the case, in the vast majority of instances there   
   was actual malpractice and the award was justified.   
      
   You don't want a health care system where doctors and hospitals can't be   
   held responsible for negligence and incompetence.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)