Sen. Ensign Introduces Federal Malpractice Award Cap Legislation

January 17, 2007

  • January 17, 2007 at 1:38 am
    Scott says:
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    Hurray for Senator Ensign. Lets see how many of his fellow Senators (lawyers) get on board with this idea. I going to spectulate that not many will. Maybe John Edwards? No, probably not.

  • January 17, 2007 at 1:39 am
    Andrew says:
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    it\’s about time someone got the ball rolling on this. Perhaps we\’ll see a reduction in medical costs as a long-term result of this as well

  • January 17, 2007 at 2:52 am
    David says:
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    This is good for the insurance industry, as claims paid are reduced profits will go up for the insurance company. If premiums go down its bad for agents though, lets hope that doesnt happen. But if the company can lie and decrease premiums by 3% when claims go down by 10% that is still a hefty profit. This is usually what happens. Its good for business, transfer profits from citizens and lawyers to the insurance companies.

  • January 17, 2007 at 3:59 am
    KL says:
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    Hurray! Sorry guys this one is not about profit, for the insurance company, the lawyers, the Dr\’s, or the injured. It is about returning health care, and health care insurance premiums, to a level where an honest hard working middle class citizen doesn\’t loose his life savings if he gets sick. This senator finally gets it.

  • January 17, 2007 at 6:48 am
    Mike End says:
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    This proposed legislation will not have any significant impact on the availability of healthcare or upon the costs of healthcare. Its goal is to require the most seriously injured people to be shortchanged in order to benefit insurance companies. It sounds like a great idea until you are the person who has been maimed by medical negligence.

  • January 18, 2007 at 8:57 am
    Mike End says:
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    UW – The average payout in the United States in 2005 was $290,982. There is a big difference between the states. Connecticut had the highest average payment, $731,695, while Nebraska averaged just $97,381. On average, 17 claims are paid for every 1,000 practicing doctors per year. In Wisconsin, only 6 claims are paid for every 1,000 practicing doctors. I tell doctors that they have a chance of a payment being made to one of their patients once in every 166 years of practice.

  • January 18, 2007 at 9:55 am
    John says:
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    The Republican party/insurance industry/ Chamber of Commerce alliance couldn\’t get this kind of \”tort reform\” passed when they controlled Congress and the nation trusted the Bush Administration. It\’s not gonna happen now!

  • January 18, 2007 at 1:33 am
    UW says:
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    Of course, medical malpractice suits only account for 1% of the costs for medical insurers, so even if this does pass, it\’s not going to change anything. I know that the large suits get all the press, but the suits that are really killing us are the ambulance chasers that will settle 100% of their cases for 5,000 a piece, but this certainly will hurt people that bring large claims when they have been injured by the carelessness of the medical profession.

  • January 18, 2007 at 2:58 am
    Mike End says:
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    In response to UW, insurance companies for health care providers do not settle cases that do not have merit. In fact, they do not usually settle cases that have merit. Their resistance to paying is one of the reasons there are so few medical malpractice suits filed. In my state, Wisconsin, there were only 81 people in the entire state who received compensation from medical malpractice claims in the last annual report from the National Practitioner Data Bank.

  • January 18, 2007 at 6:03 am
    UW says:
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    Mike,

    Sounds like maybe you have some experience in this. Do you happen to know the average med mal payout?



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