A recent Wall Street Journal article reported medical malpractice expenses as $30 billion, and the estimated cost of tests physicians order to protect themselves from malpractice cases is $60 billion. This is the cost of defensive medicine. Seventy-five percent of doctors practice defensive medicine by ordering tests to protect against possible litigation.

 

At every meeting I attend, my AMA delegates and other doctors remind me, “Doctor, there is no money; Medicare is going bankrupt.” President Obama recently appointed Harvard physician, Dr. Donald Berwick to the top post of CMS. Dr. Berwick is well-known for the rationing of care and is an admirer of the British socialist medical care system.

 

When President of the BCMA, I was asked whether I would want insurance coverage for all our citizens and coverage for all patients with pre-existing conditions? My answer has always been, “of course”. Not only as a doctor, but as a fellow patient, I would like to see coverage provided. However, my question has always been, “How will we pay for this, and what kind of coverage would we have?”

 

This year, as my fellow doctors know, there was a proposed 21.3% cut to the Medicare physician fee schedule. This led to physicians not receiving reimbursement from Medicare, and the insurance companies following Medicare’s lead, for most of June. How can practices survive with no cash flow? And it doesn’t end there, the same scenario will be repeated in six months when the issue comes before Congress one more time.

 

Common sense tells me that if there is a $90 Billion expense in malpractice issues, this should be addressed before cuts on payments for mammograms only after age 50, pap smears, stents, PSA’s and such.

 

I have always felt very strongly that if I ever made a medical mistake, and if money would compensate for that mistake, I would certainly like to do so. This is why I carry malpractice insurance. However, as doctors know, a bad outcome is not always the doctor’s fault. I have seen and personally suffered situations where the doctor with the ‘deep pocket’ is targeted and the party who might have been negligent was dropped because they had ‘no money’.

 

Common Sense tells me that before rationing medicine, as Dr Berwick is known to support, Congress should investigate ways to relieve the $90 Billion defensive medicine costs.