As the nation seeks strategies for addressing the important issue of rising medical costs, some people—often the same people who stand to gain from their prescriptions, conveniently—are claiming the cure lies in limiting the amount of damages injured patients may recover from negligent doctors.
That’s just what Texas did in 2003, though, and a new report from the nonprofit organization Public Citizen has found not only that the state’s medical liability cap did not reduce medical costs, but that health care is now less available and more expensive in Texas than elsewhere nationally.
The report shows that since the Lone Star State put the cap in place, malpractice litigation has fallen precipitously—but Medicare spending and health insurance costs have risen, debunking the notion that fear of litigation is to blame for growing health care costs. Meanwhile, a number of indices demonstrate, healthcare has become harder to access in Texas. For instance, private health insurance premiums have increased more quickly in Texas than in other states, and the portion of Texans who lack health insurance has risen to nearly a quarter of the state’s residents.
“This report shows that the rest of the nation should not hold up Texas as a model,” said Public Citizen’s Texas director, Tom Smith. “The only winners in Texas are the doctors and the insurance companies.”
If you’ve been harmed as a result of a doctor’s negligence, contact Hodes Milman for a free case evaluation. We’re aggressive personal injury and medical malpractice lawyers based in Orange County, serving all of California. We have the experience to take on the medical industry and have achieved multi-million dollar verdicts for our clients.