Politicians that offer no solution to healthcare costs beyond legislating ad hoc limits on malpractice lawsuit settlements are just posturing for votes IMHO. Such caps are also worth little. They may be effective at reducing the legal risk of medical practice for providers and slightly lower physicians malpractice insurance but they are far too legally dangerous in practice. No legislature can reasonably determine the maximum allowable damage an incident of malpractice should create. And because the possibility still remains for egregious events of malpractice to warrant damages far larger than this “cap”, such limitations end up inhibiting justice for those who are truly harmed by the worst cases of true malpractice.

The specialties that would benefit the most are high risk specialists such as neurosurgeons or OB/GYN s. Again it may help rural availability for these specialties but very little reduction in costs overall to the consumer.

No Roman I am sure that capping claims in malpractice incidents would change very little for the cost of healthcare.

Health insurance, for complicated economic reasons of adverse selection is not a market that can operate efficiently without government intervention. If it does, it will always price certain people out of the market.So what you might say...thats their problem. Well not so fast.....

This issue is worth the concern of all Americans. The uninsured create negative externalities, whereby their lack of effective health coverage directly harms the welfare of other people in society and it costs those of us paying for healthcare a hell of a lot of money! Their avoidance of health care, especially preventative care, eventually necessitates emergency care which is left to be paid by taxpayers; their poor health assists the spread of disease and illness to others; they divert medical resources from preventative care to the care of preventable illness and the cost of these illnesses are astronomical.

Healthcare is not like other goods where you can say so what?? You did not prepare so go die in a corner. It wont happen and then we all pay more.

I am not advocating socialized medicine but required healthcare insurance for all with some members of society getting help with their insurance premiums.

Good point roman and that is exactly why I do not believe in socialized medicine. Universal healthcare with required health insurance is different .
In all countries where health care is completely free at the point of consumption, demand rises. This is not surprising. Why would one not go to the doctor for a cold when it costs nothing? Yet while this is not surprising, it is very damaging. The high demand for unnecessary care creates shortages, ending in long lines and waiting lists at the doctor’s office. It also diverts resources, as the hordes of free-riding patients rushing in with their trivial afflictions end up creating the need for doctors to address the trivial, at the expense of those few with real needs.

So I believe we need a complete overhaul with a universal required healthcare insurance requirement with help for those that cannot afford it and tax incentives for businesses that provide it.

Check out the link I gave..Mass. has passd a law and it is worth the nation to watch how this plays out. I think it is a plan that will help.

Okay Roman you have me on a roll and I am organizing my thoughts by writing this. Now my views are not liberal or conservative on this issue but as you can see a mix of both. Tax incentives...conservative but getting in peoples life and saying they have to have insurance! Absolutely..because by law we have tio treat them and if they do not have insurance then we all apy more!

Okay my next attack is on the pharmaceutical industry... for a short time I even worked for one of the biggest in the business Glaxo/Smith/Kline at research triangle park in in N.C.

Pharmaceutical companies will convince you that 237 dollar antibiotic was necessary due to research. Most of the revenue goes for fat salaries, bribing physicians with trips, parties , etc..yes I confess I have taken a few.

If you have a hospitial bill around read the cost of your drugs...astronomical There is not much of a mark up from the hospital. America is being held hostage by the pharmaceutical industry. I will write more on this tomorrow. This is a major part of healhcare costs. Hey I am tough on republicans for falling to lobbyists and not negotiating drug benefits for medicare.

Oh one other comment....IMHO some of the costly drugs consumers take are unnecessary.

I also wanted to add that we need to establish healthcare associations for small businesses. I worked for a small business with about 20 employees. A female co-worker of mine declined health insurance becuse it was about $300 just for herself per month. If small businesses could join these associations for a higher discount, this could help many more people to be insured. This already happens for workman's comp insurance, i don't see why it can't for healthcare as well.

Secondly, we also cut tax benefits for companies that don't provide healthcare packages as a part of compensation.

My 2 biggest concerns

1. How we pay for it. If we could cut unneeded spending on programs that don't work such as the war on drugs, etc., I may support it.

2. G-ment, inefficiency. Look at your local BMV, Katrina, etc., g-ment ruins everything and typically burns more resources in doing so.


Just wanted to say this has been a fun coversation, it shows how big, complex, and serious the problem is.

I agree, I hurt my toes about 10 years ago. They charged me $32 for the gauze to wrap one toe, that same gauze would have cost me 2 bucks at CVS. I agree 100% with you on the PHarma comps, especially since some research is funded by the feds. We should lower the patent and take away tax breaks.


Its not about parties, too much of either one is bad for the country, I voted for Bush but will be the first to admit the gop dropped the ball. This issue is very complex, its gonna take many small steps to lower cost. Like our energy problem, I don't see any one short-term solution.

Most on this forum see me as liberal because of my strong feelings of this administration but i am not. This cannot be partisan. The leading cause of bankruptcy in America for citizens that have done everything right and worked and saved and even have insurance is catastrophic illness or a major health setback.

The GOP have screwed this up and made it worse.... However I am against socialized medicine. So I am approaching this with as much thought as possible. Be clear though I deliver healthcare and am not an economist so this is all IMHO.

I also believe that some place have regulations on insurance including the often trivial and absurd. In various states, these include insurance alcoholism, infertility treatment, acupuncturists, marriage therapists, massage therapists, and osteopaths - whether you want any of them or not. Studies have found these ridiculous mandates increase the cost of coverage by 15-30 percent and prevent up to 25 percent of the uninsured from purchasing insurance.

So when i say mandate health insurance I am speaking of the basic no frills policy.If someone wants the inclusions mentioned they could purchase those frills themselves. I would go as far to say that I think contraceptives even if paid for by taxpayers would be an investment worth making. It could save us billions and prevent child abuse and poverty,

Last I believe in transparent hospital and physician bills so patents can see upfront the price. No more surpise bills....

I heard a conservative radio talk show host say health insurance should be like auto insurance. You pay for the oil changes, maintainence, etc., but are covered in serious addicidents. This would drmamatically lower cost in his opinion. He gave an eye surgery that sue to be covered as an example. The eye surgery while covered was abroud 5k an eye. After it was no longer covered, the price dropped to 1500/eye becuz no one was willing to pay 5k out of their pocket to enhance their vision. This may seem harsh but he may be on to something, not that we have to take it that far.

Also, prevention is key but insurance shouldn't pay it. We need to mandate healthy lunches in schools and change the old PE system that doesn't work. A firend of mine is a PE teacher and says the same thing, there needs to be more "fitness" classes rather than traditional PE classes that actually demotivates some that are less athletically declined. Oh, I almost forgot, we should tax the crap out of snacks like we do alcohol and tobacco (thismay be the only tax increasde I support).

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