Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Lawsuit lottery hikes costs of Ga. healthcare

Guest Editorial By The Medical Association of Georgia

You would be hard pressed to find a single Georgian to disagree that the cost of healthcare is staggering. This fact is evidenced by increases in health insurance premiums, higher deductibles, more out of pocket expenses, less coverage, fewer employers offering health insurance as a benefit and the ever increasing number of uninsured citizens. What may not be so evident is the role in this problem played by out of control medical liability lawsuits.

Georgia’s lawsuit lottery environment is directly costing citizens and seriously compromising the affordability and availability of quality healthcare in our state.

As physicians are forced to practice more and more defensive medicine, ordering extra tests or procedures to protect themselves from litigation, the cost of healthcare continues to skyrocket.

Defensive medicine adds $97.5 BILLION annually to the nation’s hospital and physician services and adds an estimated $28-48 BILLION annually to the costs of programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Who pays for that? Taxpayers do!

According to a recent study by the Employment Policy Foundation, uncapped medical liability litigation increased the annual cost to provide health insurance to workers by up to $353 per employee and increased employees’ contributions to their employer-provided health insurance by up to $109 per employee. This same report found that 2.7 million workers and their families were denied employer-provided accident and health insurance because of the medical litigation crisis.

From a business standpoint, not only are fewer employers offering health insurance benefits but this crisis is also having a chilling effect on economic development. Georgia is not a favorable environment for business due to the current system of skyrocketing jury awards and frivolous lawsuits. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s report entitled, “Is Your State Blowing Business Away,” rated Georgia 39th as a state with a fair and reasonable litigation system.

Georgia legislators have an opportunity to abate this crisis with common sense reforms of the civil justice system similar to those enacted in other states.

The single, best-documented way to stabilize medical liability premiums is with a $250,000.00 limit on non-economic damages. This does not limit payment for lost wages, medical expenses, or any other economic loss for legitimately injured patients. This reform has worked in 26 other states around the country and it is sorely need in Georgia.

Without common sense civil justice reforms healthcare costs will continue to skyrocket and the availability of quality care will decline.

[The Medical Association of Georgia has been promoting a better state of health for Georgia residents for more than 150 years. Through its strong advocacy efforts, MAG is protecting patients’ ability to access quality medical care and is securing a strong practice environment for Georgia physicians. For more information about civil justice reform, visit our web site at www.mag.org.]