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08/01/2004: "The Healthcare Crisis in this Country"

I have to admit upfront that I have a personal bias on this subject because of my last twenty years of experience in the Healthcare system from the trenches of being a staff nurse to the Administrator of outpatient surgery centers. But I think I may have the answer as to how to control health care costs or at least have them level out.

The current Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States is a trial lawyer turned politician. Pardon the cynical side of me, but I see this as a natural progressive degenerative disorder infecting most of DC. Having raped the healthcare system to attain a personal fortune worth about $70 million dollars, multiply this figure by the number of trial lawyers specializing in Personal Injury and now you know why an aspirin costs $10 at a hospital. Factor in a small percentage of actually incompetent practitioners of healthcare who deserve to be sued and your aspirin is up to $15 to cover the exorbitant cost of malpractice insurance.

Here’s my prescription:

1. Eliminate trial lawyer contingency fees under existing laws prohibiting gambling and usury. I think everyone would consider a 33% cut loan sharking and certainly not usual and customary in any other business. Guido would probably be able to make you a better deal.

2. Set up a government agency that provides Legal Insurance. Legal representation should be the right of every American whether they can afford it or not. Make sure that the government agency sets ridiculously low reimbursement rates to attorneys for their services and tell them that the quantity of referrals will make up for the low reimbursements. This will spawn a number of private Legal Insurance Companies that will use the Federal Legal Insurance Rates as the absolute maximum reimbursement.

3. Enact stiff penalties for using any attorney that is not in the provider network. This forces the attorneys to become in network providers by limiting their access to potential clients.

4. Drill into the heads of every plaintiff that despite the careful explanation of complications that was fully explained to them that may arise, if the outcome isn’t what you expected-sue, sue, sue. You were told you had a good case. If it didn’t yield the settlement you expected, the attorney must be incompetent.

5. Set a ridiculously low co-pay amount that the policy holder will have pay and make sure that even a panhandler can come up with the fee. This will allow booking of appointments for the most trivial matters. Encourage them to make sure they check with their lawyer before any decisions are made.

6. Courts and Clerk and Recording Offices would require the attorney carry malpractice insurance to practice or do business with them with a minimum of $1 million/incident and $5 million/aggregate coverage. When going from one malpractice insurance company to another for better rates, the company the attorney is leaving will require them to buy a “tail” which is extended coverage to cover any lawsuits not filed against them at the time the policy ended but may be filed in the future. The new company will require proof that this tail has been purchased before issuing a new policy.

Sit back and watch health care costs level out and then decline. Crisis over.

Replies: 1 Comment

Q. What is 10,000 trial lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?
A. A good start.

Matt said @ 08/02/2004 10:29 AM MST