Please, no more columns by Ann Coulter. She makes so many gross misstatements (TGI, National View, Sept. 30). It takes too much work to refute them all. Insurance premiums under ObamaCare increased by “10 times the price?” Statistically incorrect. “Once
Please, no more columns by Ann Coulter. She makes so many gross misstatements (TGI, National View, Sept. 30). It takes too much work to refute them all.
Insurance premiums under ObamaCare increased by “10 times the price?” Statistically incorrect. “Once the average level of subsidies are included in the calculation, the actual out-of-pocket premium cost borne by qualifying consumers actually decreased slightly between 2014 and 2017 — a drop of $60, from $4,920 in 2014 to $4,860 in 2017.” Alaska, cited by Trump as having a 200-plus percent ObamaCare premium increase, when the subsidies are taken into account: “In Alaska, there was a 1 percent decrease in premiums for this population from 2016 to 2017. In 2017, the 86 percent of people in the exchanges in Alaska who receive tax credits pay $93 per month, according to Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s far less than the $344 they were paying in 2013.” Much of the increases under ObamaCare reflect a trend long antedating ACA, and the cost of requiring a panoply of coverage.
A 50 percent contingent fee for medical malpractice? Grossly misleading. The overwhelming percentage of medical malpractice cases are brought in states which limit medmal contingent fees to far less (Oklahoma allows up to 50 percent; all other capping states are 40 percent or less on small recoveries, decreasing to 10-30 percent for larger recoveries). About 7 in 10 cases result in no fee for the plaintiff’s attorney (64 percent dismissed after a review of the medical records is possible; 6 percent defendant verdict). Average (including no recovery) plaintiff’s contingent fee per case is about $37,000; average defense attorney fee is about $25,000 (including claims quickly dropped).
Lack of medical malpractice reform? False. As noted, most cases are subject to caps on plaintiffs’ attorney fees (no state caps defendants’). Most (over 60 percent) of states cap noneconomic (disfigurement, pain, loss of mobility, etc.) damages and/or total damages, and several more cap punitive damages.
Obscene jury awards? Misleading. “The average out-of-court settlement for a medical malpractice lawsuit is just over $425,000, while the average jury award is now over $1 million.” Only 1 percent of cases result in a jury award for the plaintiff. About 40 percent of the high award cases are wrongful death and many of the rest are birth injuries. A finding of malpractice is necessary before any award is made, of course. Studies suggest only about 1 in 25 patients with a potential medical malpractice claim actually pursues the claim.
Juries of illiterates? First, note the former corporate attorney’s disdain for this American institution. Juries for medmal cases, which are often lengthy, are drawn disproportionately from retired people: conservatives’ base. Medmal juries decide overwhelmingly (80-plus percent) for defendants. Studies show medmal jury awards are closely similar both to the trial judge’s opinion made before the jury award, and independent medical assessments; the awards track the objective level of severity of damage.
Huge costs to health care? A matter of perspective. Only slightly more than 1/1,000 doctors are sued each year. A 2010 study (“National Costs of the Medical Liability System”) found the total cost of medical malpractice liability, including defensive medicine and lost time of practitioners’ dealing with the litigation, was about “2.4 percent of total health care spending.” That was higher than the 2 percent estimate by the Congressional Budget Office for 2004. The CBO later estimated that instituting five medmal reforms would save about .5 percent (1/200) of health care costs. Health insurance companies’ aggregate 2016 profit was $13.1 billion, several times the total of payments on medical malpractice claims, even with many CEOs earning over $10 million.
Ann Coulter’s rant did not mention that the cost of medical malpractice claims would be hugely reduced, probably by 10 times what all other proposed reforms could accomplish, by universal free medical care, which would eliminate the past and future medical costs components of malpractice cases, the primary motivation for bringing such cases.
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Jed Somit is a resident of Kapaa.
