Sun Feb 12 2012
The columnist Martin Schram in Friday's Record-Courier advocated President Obama getting on board with medical malpractice reform. We believe his point is valid.
Schram said if the president had done that at his recent summit at Blair House, the Republicans might have responded favorably. He said the president should propose a new system of medical malpractice adjudication, a special court in which panels of doctors, lawyers and hospital officials review all medical malpractice claims, weeding out the frivolous ones and, presumably, assigning value to the valid ones.
The system he proposed would be similar to systems used successfully in Europe, where medical insurance either through the public sector or, in some cases, a regulated private sector, is available to all. There, technical panels determine the validity of malpractice claims.
The president might have offended one of his special interest groups, namely the tort lawyers, but had he dared to do this at Blair House, Schram speculates that Republicans might have responded in kind by telling the insurance companies that pre-existing conditions or the loss of a job as excuses for denying coverage can be no more.
Schram's column, of course, indirectly tells why the medical insurance issue has been so virulent. Both sides reflect the wishes of their campaign contributors, the Democrats kowtowing to the tort lawyers, the Republicans to the insurance companies.
Medical malpractice can generate huge fees. Restricting the pool of those eligible for coverage by excluding those with preexisting conditions can generate big-time profits for the insurance providers.
Without some give on both sides, not much may happen, but the president could, if he wants, lead the way to a compromise. Why doesn't he try such a strategy? At this point, what's he got to lose?
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