Lawsuits are extremely flawed in that they make future recipients of a service pay for past misconduct. How does this fix anything?

I keep hearing doctors complain that they are being underpaid, but the gross amount spent on healthcare keeps rising. Something does not add up.

I am so tired of the current healthcare system. I would love to pay a reasonable amount to doc at time of service and be done with it.

Have you seen discussion of vouchers to purchase health insurance as opposed to the current top-down plan?

For what’s it worth. The only neurosurgeons in our area will not see any non-ED patient unless they have signed an arbitration agreement. They got the agreement and amended it for their practice from the states trial lawyers org.

I love the strawman, by the way.

But you, on the front lines of this issue, whose life is directly affected by it EVERY DAY, have done next to nothing to further that. I must have asked you three times what legislation we should support that brings you the “free market” you claim to want. Yet you have nothing. Zip. Zero.

“I don’t go running to the government for protection.”

What do you think all your cries for malpractice “reform” are? You’re asking the govt to protect you from the public.

“In the real world, 40% of patients pay me 10 cents on the dollar, 25% of patients pay me closer to nothing, and 30% of patients pay me a little more than the cost of providing care.”

If all this is true, how is the average ED physicians salary $180,000? Are the remaining 5% paying you 200x the cost of providing care? And 10 cents on what dollar?

Your math makes no sense.

First of all, I don’t believe that being covered under a state or federal tort claims act is necessarily a good thing. What happens if the government chooses not to extend protection to you? What happens if the government settles a frivolous case without your consent and then you get put on the national practitioner databank?

You babble on about me seeking protections in the “free market”. The medical market isn’t even close to being “free” right now. In fact, there will never be a completely free market in medicine because some people could never afford even basic health care yet we still have to provide care for them.

I don’t go running to the government for protection. I’m happy to pay for malpractice insurance, but can’t pay for the premiums if patients don’t pay me.

So if we operated in a truly free market, I would get paid by each patient, I would pay my malpractice premiums, college loans, medical school loans, Supreme Court Justice school loans, Ferrari payments, etc., and I wouldn’t have to worry about whether the next insurance payment cut would affect my ability to pay my bills.
In the real world, 40% of patients pay me 10 cents on the dollar, 25% of patients pay me closer to nothing, and 30% of patients pay me a little more than the cost of providing care.
Now how does the “non-free” market entice medical providers to stay in the market under those conditions? Decreasing expenses for the provider would be one way. Loan repayment programs. Cover malpractice insurance costs. Ooooh yeah, 30 years of tort reform!
However the market will entice providers, it better do so quickly. The next round of Medicare cuts isn’t going to make things any better. And all the new technology requirement, audits, JCAHO regulations, and increased patient populations will likely cause more experienced physicians to hang up their stethoscope.

I await your Spock-like logical retorts on how we can provide complete medical care to everyone using only the change found between couch cushions, while increasing the take-home pay for malpractice plaintiff attorneys – based on your extensive experience in the field, of course.