Boot the Tort Lawyers

            I love good ideas. Well, I recently learned of an idea that could potentially save us $2.6 trillion over 10 years. For that kind of money, I think everybody should know about it..

            The states of Georgia and Florida are studying something called the Patients' Compensation System. It's a system to compensate people who have suffered medical injuries without going through the courts. In fact, it would put malpractice tort lawyers out of business.
            Let me back up a little. My very first job after college was as an insurance adjuster. I handled two kinds of cases, negligence and workers' compensation (called workmens' comp in that pre-PC era). Negligence cases were often complicated and many ended up in court. But workers' compensation cases for the most part were a snap. Once an injury was determined to be work-related, the insurance company covered the injured party's medical bills, paid for time lost, and made an award if the injury caused a full or partial disability. Since 1948, all states have had workers' compensation legislation in place, and the vast majority of cases are handled smoothly and fairly and without lawyers and courts .
            The Patients' Compensation System would apply the same kind of administrative methods to malpractice cases. People unhappy with their medical care would be compensated, if a panel of health-care experts found their claim to be justified. They would no longer have to get a lawyer to sue for damages and then wait years for the case to be adjudicated.
            To me, this looks like a win-win situation for everybody, except, of course, for tort lawyers who see malpractice litigation as a stairway to monetary heaven. Without the fear of being sued, physicians would no longer have to practice defensive medicine, which is estimated to cost over $480 billion a year; unnecessary tests and referrals to specialists would all but disappear. With the elimination of outlandish jury awards, medical malpractice insurance rates would drop dramatically, and doctors would no longer have to pass these costs on to patients.
            With the likelihood of Obamacare bumping up health care costs by a cool trillion dollars over the next ten years, it certainly behooves legislators in every state to follow the lead of Georgia and Florida and look into this great idea.