Reform #3 - Tort Reform

Frivolous Litigation Reform - Improving Access to Care

While the rest of the United States ponders these issues, the state of Texas took action on its own. The Texas healthcare reforms of 2003 powerfully demonstrate how patient-friendly malpractice laws can improve access to care. Statistics tell the tale:

The Texas Experience Prior to Tort Reform

• 85% of suits filed closed without payment to the patient.
• The average verdict quadrupled in 10 years.
  • 1989 - $473,000
  • 1999 - $2,049,000
• In 2000, 31 out of every 100 physicians were sued.
• By 2002, so many physicians had left Texas it ranked 48th of 50 for patients per physician.
  • Texas: 152 physicians per 100,000 people
  • U.S. Average: 196 physicians per 100,000 people
• 158 of 254 counties did not have an obstetrician.
• Large hospital systems spent up to $400 million each year in legal/malpractice fees.

The Texas Experience Following Tort Reform in 2003

• Physicians returned to Texas.
• By 2006 Texas had risen from 48th to 42nd in the national physician to patient ration.
• By 2007 nearly 600 OB/GYN physicians returned to practice in Texas.
• The cost of malpractice insurance declined by an average of 21%.
• Using its medical liability savings, Christus Hospital in Corpus Christi opened a Diabetes Excellence Center and a clinic for the indigent.
• Using its medical liability savings, Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi opened satellite clinics in the border cities of Brownsville and McAllen.
• Using its medical liability savings, Kelsey-Seybold Clinic in Houston installed an electronic medical record system to improve patient care.

Frivolous Litigation Reform - Reducing the Cost of Healthcare

The Pacific Research Institute estimates American physicians spend $124 billion each year in defensive medicine-more than half of the total 2006 U.S. national deficit! A 2003 Health and Human Services report estimated tort reform would save Medicare and Medicaid between $30 and $50 billion dollars every year. This savings does not include patients with employer-based insurance.

Tort reform will not only increase patient access to life-saving medical specialties such as obstetrics, trauma surgery, and neurosurgery, it will save between $60 and $80 billion each year without restricting access to care.

When the $50 billion savings of patient based insurance (Insurance Reform) is combined with the $70 billion savings of Tort Reform, we can reduce healthcare spending in the United States by approximately $120 billion each year without restricting access to care. These savings more than pay for the $80 billion plan (Tax Reform) to cover the uninsured Americans who earn less than $50,000.

By making healthcare work more efficiently through Insurance Reform, Tax Reform, and Tort Reform, we can save $40 billion dollars every year while giving every American access to care. Every government based National Health System in the world controls cost by restricting access to care. There is a better way.