Bush to Restrict Malpractice Insurance Costs 

JENNIFER LOVEN / AP 25jul02

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is lending his support to a proposed cap on malpractice awards to injured patients in hopes of tackling the soaring insurance costs that are forcing many doctors out of certain communities and high-risk practices.

Bush was arguing, during a visit Thursday to a hospital and university in High Point, N.C., that reigning in medical malpractice litigation would make health care safer, as well as more affordable and available for all.

In Bush's fifth trip to a state he won handily in 2000, he also will raise money for Republican Elizabeth Dole. The former Cabinet secretary and Red Cross chief is seeking to replace retiring GOP North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms in one of several races that could decide whether Democrats keep their slim Senate majority.

Legislation in Congress would limit the pain and suffering portion of malpractice awards to $250,000 and punitive damages to either the same amount or twice the patient's actual financial loss. The bill, intended to override state laws, also would curtail lawyers' fees and patients' ability to file suit over old cases.

Promoted by White House aides at the beginning of the year as a key new piece of his agenda, Bush has hardly touched on the subject of restricting malpractice awards since.

But recent news reports have highlighted a growing number of communities experiencing the loss of medical practices and physicians, in Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Oregon and elsewhere.

Bush was announcing his support for many of the pending bill's changes, saying they would shave $60 billion off American health care costs.

In concert with Bush's speech, his administration released a report that found the price of malpractice insurance for certain high-risk specialists increased about 10 percent last year and may rise by 20 percent this year. But costs are climbing even faster in states without limits on non-economic damages, said the report released Wednesday by the Health and Human Services Department.

States with limits between $250,000 to $350,000 for pain and suffering awards had average maximum premium increases for internists, general surgeons and obstetricians of between 12 percent and 15 percent last year, compared with an average of 44 percent in states with no caps, it said.

Premiums can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year and go as high as $200,000.

The result has been closed practices, rising health care costs overall as doctors defensively prescribe unnecessary tests and treatments, reluctance of medical professionals to share information on mistakes and thus improve care, and fewer physicians entering high-risk areas.

The solution is to limit damages for pain and suffering in malpractice cases, the report suggests.

"The cause of the medical liability crisis is a badly broken system of litigation that serves the interest of specialized trial lawyers, not patients," said a White House fact sheet on the event.

To make his point, Bush was traveling to the home state of Sen. John Edwards, a potential Democratic contender in the 2004 presidential race who made millions trying personal injury lawsuits against big companies before he joined Congress.

The American Medical Association says the problem is particularly acute in a dozen states where rising premiums are tied to expensive awards by state juries.

The average jury award for medical malpractice doubled to $1 million in the six years ending in 2000, according to Jury Verdict Research, a private database used by lawyers, insurers and doctors. Lawyers who handle malpractice cases are critical of the database, pointing out that it is not comprehensive and contending that its findings are inflated.

Trial lawyers are opposed to caps, citing surveys showing juries rule in favor of doctors in two-thirds of all malpractice lawsuits. They say doctors and hospitals should focus on reducing mistakes, not jury awards.

• American Medical Association: www.ama-assn.org
• Association of Trial Lawyers of America: www.atla.org