Senator Vitter claims that to extend health care coverage to the 46 million un-insured we need to limit “medical liability lawsuits”. How absurd! Instead of repeating false propaganda from the insurance industry, Senator Vitter should know that in 1975 (over 34 years ago), Louisiana adopted some of the most restrictive laws in the U.S. to favor insurers of negligent health care providers to the detriment of the most seriously injured and killed victims of malpractice. Louisiana procedural and monetary limits let insurers pay no more than $100,000 per health care provider (up to a maximum of $500,000 per claim, plus future medical) for even the worst cases. This “cap” applies across the board to economic and non-economic losses including lost wages, funeral and burial fees, scarring, disability, loss of use of organs, and pain and suffering, wrongful death, etc. If the “cap” was adjusted for inflation in 2008, it would be over $1.9 million. Meanwhile there is NO limit on insurance company profits, reserve accounts, defense costs, or coverage amounts. Many doctors pay for $3 million in coverage plus coverage by the Patient Compensation Fund, even though their insurer’s “cap” is $100,000 per claim.
In 1975, Louisiana ranked 25th in malpractice insurance rates. As of October 2008, the average liability premium of internists, general surgeons, and OB/GYN’s for 2008 placed Louisiana at 17th. So 39 years of “malpractice lawsuit limits” has brought Louisiana HIGHER malpractice insurance rates than many states that do not have limits on lawsuits.
One Louisiana malpractice insurer boasts on its website that 90 percent of its claims are closed without paying anything in indemnity to malpractice victims. From 2004 to 2007, the nationwide median malpractice claim payment was $145,000. Nationwide only 3 percent of malpractice claims were paid in excess of $1 million and only one-tenth of one percent are in excess of $5 million. The Congressional Budget Office has reported that doing away with medical liability altogether would have less than a 2 percent effect on healthcare expenditures in the U.S.
Another false propaganda claim is that doctors are or will leave a state because of high malpractice rates. Malpractice rates are one of the smaller expenses of a medical practice compared to rent and salaries. Nationwide, the number of doctors has increased annually in every state (except Louisiana following the 2005 hurricanes).
Senator Vitter favors disregarding the considered judgment of juries, protected by the Seventh Amendment, who hear both sides of a case and render a judgment based upon the facts. This is truly traitorous. The jury system is the one remaining element of government in this country which is not over-run with corporate lobbyists and donors trying to sway lawmakers.
Oliver Schrumpf
Sulphur, LA
