Medical Malpractice Could Be Part Of Finance Panel Health Measure

NU Online News Service, Sept. 17, 3:39 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON–The Senate Finance Committee may add provisions capping the cost of medical malpractice awards to health care reform legislation when it acts on the measure next week.

The stage was set for such action through inclusion of a placeholder provision dealing with medical malpractice in "America's Healthy Future Act," the legislation introduced yesterday by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate panel.

But, the chief executive officer of a medical malpractice insurer in New York cautioned that federal legislation is not the whole answer to reducing the cost of health care because doctors practice defensive medicine.

Anthony J. Bonomo, CEO of Physicians' Reciprocal Insurers, Roslyn, N.Y., New York's second largest medical malpractice insurer, cautioned that federal medical malpractice legislation, such as a provision to cap pain and suffering awards, will not be the total answer to doctors' practicing defensive medicine.

"Caps might be a component of reforms, but they are not the total answer," he said.

"Remember that caps only affect cases that are tried to conclusion," Mr. Bonomo said. "The majority of cases are settled before even going to court, so a cap would not have any definable impact."

At the same time, he said, one positive of a cap is that they "would help make pain and suffering awards less arbitrary."

The provision in the bill introduced by Sen. Baucus would "express the Sense of the Senate" that health care reform presents an opportunity to address issues related to medical malpractice and medical liability insurance.

That such a provision could be inserted in health care delivery reform legislation was anticipated by the American Association for Justice, formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, which, according to their third-quarter lobbying report, shifted major resources to oppose federal medical malpractice legislation.

And, in advance of President Barack Obama's speech to Congress 10 days ago, the AAJ mounted a public relations campaign to quote "dispel the myth" that the fear of malpractice lawsuits accounts for astronomical health care costs.

Mr. Bonomo argues that federal legislation is not the total answer.

He said the "thrust of medical malpractice reforms should be to make sure anyone injured can be compensated fairly, and at the same time ensure that doctors are not overpaying."

He said the industry's lobbying focus needs to be at the state level, and it needs to go beyond pain and suffering.

"We need to look at it from a holistic point of view because there are other changes that come before pain and suffering, which can have a greater impact in stabilizing the system and reducing costs," Mr. Bonomo said.