National Federation of Independent Business
10/25/04: I recently received a mailer paid for by the National Federation of Independent Business, Tammy Boehms, Treasurer.
This mailer is directed to business owners and was sent to Spiderdance, my web development business. NFIB endorses Pete Coors stand on medical malpractice laws as they apply to small businesses. This is pertinent to the articles I plan on writing about many problems with the high cost of health care. I'm reproducing it here because I would like to take this opportunity to comment. The text of the mailer is in the box below.
Pete Coors
Packs a powerful punch on the issues that matter most to small-business owners.
Capping Non-Economic Damages in Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Firvolous and costly lawsuits can be a major burden to small businesses, especially when it comes to medical malpractice.
Pete Coors will work to reform unfair medical malpractice laws by capping non-economic damages. These much-needed reforms will save small businesses millions of dollars each year.
(Source: Official 2004 NFIB Candidate Questionnaire)This year the stakes are high for small business. That's why the National Federation of Independent Business -the nation's largest small-business advocacy organization, with 600,000 members - wants you to know where th candidates stand.
Comments:
Business provided health insurance
It would save businesses even more if they stopped providing health insurance altogether. You wouldn't expect a business to provide car insurance or homeowners insurance for their employees, why should they provide health insurance. George Bush is hoping that American businesses will shoulder this burden for the federal government. I wouldn't count on it.As the cost of health care rises, more and more businesses will cease to provide this benefit. The result will be either that the government will take over health insurance (this is my expectation), or health insurance will be provided to individuals directly and insurance companies will have to compete in a free market, as they now do for other types of insurance (this is my preference). If independent health insurance is too expensive, many people will not be able to afford it and will do without. This will reduce the market and cause insurance costs to drop until purchasers find the cost acceptable. This will be difficult on the poor, but cheaper health insurance will still be better than business provided health insurance, which already ignores the poor and unemployed. Medicare and Medicaid could still be available as they are now.
Malpractice insurance
Malpractice insurance is both a protection to doctors and an opportunity to profit from baseless claims. There are legitimate claims too, but capping the damages will not stop the profiteers and will hurt legitimate claims. Doctors are human and make mistakes, as we all do. Honest doctors provide a valuable service and in some cases are being forced out of business by the cost of malpractice insurance.I think doctors should be immunized against civil malpractice, but there is still the issue of patients that are hurt by a mistake. Well if the mistake is negligent enough, the doctor should be subject to criminal charges and possible jail time. This will make doctors think before they perform deliberate malpractice. If a doctor is that negligent, would you want him to pay a settlement and go on to his next patient, maybe you?
How would legitimate claims be handled? The patient could purchase procedure insurance before the procedure if they felt it was necessary. Health insurance might even provide that service as an extra cost on some policies. Today patients already pay this extra cost, not to the insurance companies, but to the doctors for their malpractice insurance. Consider that not only are a large number of claims baseless (I don't know the percent), but baseless or legitimate, lawyers keep about 30% of the settlement as their fee.
paul goodman, editor.
The National Federation of Independent Business and Pete Coors have been notified of the publication of this article. I will be glad to accurately post any comments they care to provide.
