Aug16 Written by:Dan Fernandes
8/16/2004 10:00 PM
President Bush has proposed a plan to lower medical liability insurance costs for doctors nation-wide, by placing caps on non-economic damages that doctors must pay when sued. Opponents claim it infringes on state authority. True, but the problem is that lawyers have taken control of the political process to legally plunder doctors.
Currently, 19 states do have damage caps, and liability insurance is lower, on average, in those states. This is helpful, but a major factor contributing to the problem is not being addressed, namely that it is mandatory for doctors to carry liability insurance. Mandatory insurance always causes costs to soon go out of control, because mandatory insurance has a captive funding source (like worker's comp for example).
So we should repeal the requirement that doctors must buy liability insurance. And while we are on the subject, here are some additional libertarian solutions to the many burdens that doctors carry. 1. Repeal the requirement that doctors must provide care for people who can't pay; 2. Repeal the bounty hunter provisions of the Civil False Claims Act; 3. Roll back the crushing regulations placed on doctors by Medicare, Medicaid, and OSHA.
Contrary to popular culture, doctors have no obligation to serve society. If we don't stop letting lawyers plunder doctors, we will soon be wondering why there are so few doctors, and so many lawyers.
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