Taking Away Patients' Rights To Further Enrich Insurance Companies
By Cliff Schecter Wednesday Nov 11, 2009 3:00pm
What a week. We've already seen Blue Dogs take women to the back of the bus (or was it the alley?) with Stupak's impressively Stupid Amendment. Now we're hearing that those who supposedly worry about "too much spending" when it comes to health care--you know, the meatloaf-brains who rejected the public option, which would create competition and actually bring down costs--are now blathering on about embracing "tort reform."
Because you'd really want to take away the rights of victims in a democracy to lower the health care costs by...wait for it...wait for it... ".5%" (according to the CBO).
All you really need to know is that Blue Dogs/GOPers (is there any difference?) are those in favor of this counterproductive course of action, yet if you do indeed need more, watch the heart wrenching videos recounting the tragic results of medical malpractice. To learn more about the 98,000 lives lost due to medical error each year--or 268 every day--go to 98,000 reasons, a website set up by the American Association for Justice. Once there send a message to your Senator: Remind them you won't have your rights further stripped away so they can scarf down more caviar with their contributors at Big Insurance.
More videos below the fold:
** Full Disclosure: I passionately and proudly consult for the American Association of Justice to protect the rights of patients
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of the Battle over Healthcare. But so unlikely as to be not worth betting on. Its going to be a long, bloody battle: but not just with our Congresspeople, but with the persons & organizations & corporations behind the fight.
We will win eventually, because the med insurance business at it is now constructed & run is unworkable, even with government intervention on the Ins. Co's behalf, such as allowing monopolies.
I think our next form of attack is to try and do away with the anti-trust exemption granted insurance companies.
Let's hear the GasBags & other spokespeople convince the crazies that Government protected monopolies are GOOD.
but, but, but....Republicans are telling me that tort reform will really lower cost of health care. Are you trying to tell me they're lying to me? To be truthful they aren't lying. My monthly premium would go down... $2.39 a month. I can't wait to start that new addition on my house.
Tort reform is a states issue - this is a red herring. Thirty-five states already have tort reform laws on their books.
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company immediately so they can cancel your coverage. I have never heard of a hospital taking an oath to do no harm. They really do not have an obligation to protect you, and they can alter records. That means they can cover the insurance companies asses. See how nice it is for one hand to wash the other?
for cost reductions in health care.
So, the actual health care COST reduction is only .2%, the additional .3% is reduced health CARE!
pretty much arbitrarily set the premiums for malpractice insurance. They certainly don't want to NOT make a profit here, so they just don't want any payouts that cut into their profits. They have NO intention of lowering premiums.
Oh, yeah. Did you hear that the Big Dog Clinton pissed all over the PI today? Thanks Bill. We all thought you were a corporatist, anyway. No shock here, just dismay. I want the whole thing tanked, not just the PI, you corporate bastard. I keep score, though.
aptly applies to the savings in health costs resulting from this Republican obsession with tort reform.
The real results then, are a reduction in the ability for patients to hold health practitioners accountable for their responsibilities, and a big savings for the insurance companies.
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Thom Hartmann: Death Panels on Veterans Day
My son was injured when he received 6 vaccines at one time.
We are in the vaccine court. It was set up and is supposed to be non-adversarial. While HHS lawyers get paid, vaccine companies and public health officials still continue the same program that led to his damage and my lawyers have to wait for payment at closure, our son waits for treatment and help in a system that polices itself and protects corporate interests over individuals.
Working together to get exactly what they want. The big problem is what will they do when they get everything they want?
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness that is killing America!
We are following the Texas model then? Tort reform but no pupblic option? Great. Let's follow the example of the state that consistently ranks near the bottom of the country. Well, at least they don't want to follow the Mississippi model (although, I'm not sure they even have one).
The patient's health or symptoms are given cursory attention. Hospital administrators, physicians, nurses and insurance companies too often cover each other's backs and lie to protect one another when someone screws up.
The only thing that keeps these people in check is knowing that they might get sued for ruining a person's life. This bottomline mentality is the only accountability they know & understand. And it's still not enough.
Why would anyone be so stupid as to want to remove that protection from themselves and the people they love?
A side note. A few years ago in Florida I saw a posted notice in a doctor's office by the sign-in sheet telling you that the doctor doesn't carry malpractice insurance, and then something about your seeing the doctor indicating your consent not to seek malpractice action against the doctor.
Basically, caveat emptor.
In the states that have tort reform insurance costs have not gone down.
Stupak Amendment to HR 3962 Rev 108 / or here
Re. Patrick Kennedy ...I just heard about this little rift tonight on the way home. :-/
Snip -Bishop Tobin stepped up his public rebuke of Mr. Kennedy, accusing him Wednesday of “false advertising” for describing himself as a Catholic and saying he should not receive holy communion because he supports using taxpayer money for abortions.
Pope Leo XIII (Vincenzo Pecci, 1810-1903), Italian Pope (1878-1903). Trivia: Awarded a gold medal to a cocaine-laced wine called Vin Mariani, the drink that inspired Coca-Cola.
"The death sentence is a necessary and efficacious means for the Church to attain its ends when obstinate heretics disturb the ecclesiastical order." --Vincenzo Pecci, 1810-1903
about the 98,000 lives lost due to medical error each year--or 268 every day-
Think about those numbers. Then repeat as if you are a REPIGLCIAN in mind numbing repetition: "we have the best medical system' in the world. Then, after you have repeated yourself into total delusion, consider this fact: over 300,000 people every year who enter hospital end up getting something there that they did not have before they entered. And many of these also die. Begin the mind numbing repetition one more time. Until you make yourself believe that we have the best medical system in the world.
I'm neither a crook nor a liar, but you've posted only one ideological side to the story. Sure, there are individual who have been terribly injured by negligent medical care. They should be made whole, to the extent that $$$ can do this. The current system, however, is so perverse and dysfunctional that it fails in its mission. Most physicians who are sucked into the legal vortex, like me, are innocent. It make take months or years to release us. This costs us time and $$$ and changes how we view patients. It makes us order tests that patients don't need, just to protect ourselves. Couldn't these health care dollars be better spent elsewhere? In addition, most patients who are true victims of negligence are missed entirely by the system. Is this the best we can do? For some balance, see www.MDWhistleblower.blogspot.com under Legal Quality.
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