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>> Frivolous lawsuits drive up the cost for customers almost everywhere. It's a big reason why medical costs are so high. This is asserted with confidence but

>> Frivolous lawsuits drive up the cost for customers almost everywhere. It's a big reason why medical costs are so high. This is asserted with confidence but with zero facts presented. A poster on this thread cites some numbers as putting the cost of malpractice insurance at 2.4% of the total cost of health care spending. For a comparison, I spend a lot more on car insurance as percent of the cost of driving a car. The reason why so many are sure that litigation is making their life expensive is ideological. Maybe it is true, and certainly in some cases litigation is very expensive. But think about where you hear about it. A random guy on the street is very worrying about ambulance chasing lawyers driving up costs of health care. But Apple suing Samsung or Qualcomm for billions of dollars is of no concern.

LorenPechtel 8y ago
It's not just the malpractice premiums, but all the defensive medicine the doctors do to address low-probability scenarios where the cost (and often the risk) of the testing isn't worth it.
- georgeecollins 8y ago
  That's another lovely anecdote. Are you sure that: - Unneeded testing isn't also pushed by patients? - Hospitals and administrators also push testing as a profit center? I don't know.
  - LorenPechtel 8y ago
    Well, the one time I know I ran into it there was no pushing from me. I knew long-dormant malaria had decided to cease being dormant (the cyclic nature of the symptoms is a dead giveaway to anyone who has encountered it) the doc agreed with my assessment although he felt my symptoms were mild (which wasn't a surprise to me, my initial infection had been mild, also.) He looked up the right drugs (when and where you were infected say what drugs to use) and wrote the script--but also ordered a lab test to confirm. The drugs stopped my symptoms in their tracks, a clear confirmation they were right and that before the lab could have replied even if they had done their job correctly. They had nobody trained to do it, though, and substituted a basically useless test instead. A week later the doc gets the results and that was the only time I ever heard him curse (this was also my wife's employer, I saw a lot more of him than a patient would.) If he had a microscope he could have done the proper test in 10 minutes (He worked with Doctors Without Borders and thus had more clinical experience with malaria than a specialist would.) $200 down the drain because he felt the need to CYA. It should have been try the drugs first and if they don't work then you investigate.

LorenPechtel 8y ago

It's not just the malpractice premiums, but all the defensive medicine the doctors do to address low-probability scenarios where the cost (and often the risk) of the testing isn't worth it.

georgeecollins 8y ago
That's another lovely anecdote. Are you sure that: - Unneeded testing isn't also pushed by patients? - Hospitals and administrators also push testing as a profit center? I don't know.
- LorenPechtel 8y ago
  Well, the one time I know I ran into it there was no pushing from me. I knew long-dormant malaria had decided to cease being dormant (the cyclic nature of the symptoms is a dead giveaway to anyone who has encountered it) the doc agreed with my assessment although he felt my symptoms were mild (which wasn't a surprise to me, my initial infection had been mild, also.) He looked up the right drugs (when and where you were infected say what drugs to use) and wrote the script--but also ordered a lab test to confirm. The drugs stopped my symptoms in their tracks, a clear confirmation they were right and that before the lab could have replied even if they had done their job correctly. They had nobody trained to do it, though, and substituted a basically useless test instead. A week later the doc gets the results and that was the only time I ever heard him curse (this was also my wife's employer, I saw a lot more of him than a patient would.) If he had a microscope he could have done the proper test in 10 minutes (He worked with Doctors Without Borders and thus had more clinical experience with malaria than a specialist would.) $200 down the drain because he felt the need to CYA. It should have been try the drugs first and if they don't work then you investigate.